Sen. McLachlan Backs Campus Safety Measure

Sen. Michael McLachlan on April 29 voted in favor of a proposal that aims to reduce the incidence of sexual assault on Connecticut’s college campuses by bolstering reporting requirements and instituting new protocols to help victims.

The legislation, co-sponsored by Sen. McLachlan, would:

• Allow victims to report incidents of sexual assault anonymously, provided that doing so does not violate state or federal law.
• Require schools to provide counseling and advocacy services to students who are victimized off-campus.
• Empower bystanders to prevent such crimes by requiring colleges and universities to provide prevention and awareness training to all students and staff, including a clear explanation of what constitutes consent in a sexual relationship and strategies for bystander intervention.
• Requires schools to report annually to the legislature about their polices on sexual assault, training programs, numbers of sexual assaults and disciplinary action.

“We must make all of our college campuses – including Western Connecticut State University here in Danbury – as safe and secure as possible,” Sen. McLachlan said. “We feel this is model legislation for the rest of the country. I am proud to join Democrat and Republican legislators in backing this comprehensive measure.”