Gov. Andrew Cuomo explained the Enough is Enough campaign and the need for a state-wide policy regarding how sexual assault is handled on college campuses during remarks at Syracuse University on Wednesday.

He addressed a crowd of a few hundred in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium for about 15 minutes. Enough is Enough details affirmative consent, victims’ right to police, a bill of rights for survivors and amnesty for witnesses who may have violated campus policies while witnessing the assault. The proposal previously only included colleges within the State University of New York system. Cuomo announced on Wednesday that it would expand to all colleges in the state. In addition to SU, 10 other private institutions joined the campaign on Wednesday.

“We have a crisis on college campuses of rapes and sexual violence against young women,” Cuomo said.

Sexual assault has been a hot topic at SU since the restructuring of sexual assault services, including the closing of the Advocacy Center, in June. Chancellor Kent Syverud created a workgroup in the fall comprised of students, faculty and staff to improve sexual violence prevention, education and advocacy. Two weeks ago, he assigned a permanent 30-member task force on the topic.

Cuomo said he came to speak at SU because of the way Syverud has taken a stand with sexual assault.

“Congratulations to Syracuse for stepping up and saying it,” Cuomo said in the press conference following the event. “… It’s a problem on every college campus, because it’s not really about that college campus. It’s about the young people, our culture and our system.”

Syverud spoke for about five minutes to begin the event, saying more work is needed to combat sexual violence and that he fully endorses the governor’s plan. Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney discussed the campaign for about two minutes before introducing Meaghan Greely, a graduate student in the social work program.

Greeley said she was raped twice — once in high school, once as an undergraduate at a “small private college in western New York” — and said she thinks about how much her story would be different if this legislation was in place then. Now an employee of the Vera House, Greeley uses her story to inspire change.

“This crime altered every aspect of my life,” Greeley said. “… We need to have a uniform set of policies for colleges and universities when it comes to sexual assault and rape.”

Cuomo said that currently, many schools deal with rapes by having the campus police and campus administration deal with it. The flaw in that, he said, is they just want to “make it go away,” and as a result, only 10 percent of guilty perpetrators of sexual assault are permanently expelled. Cuomo said once professors and administrators delve into the he said-she said battle, women get discouraged and don’t pursue the charges.

“What’s worse than the crime, in some ways, is the cover up, is the way we handle it, is our lack of admission,” Cuomo said. “Why? Because we don’t want to admit these kinds of issues. It’s why I’m so proud of what’s been done here at Syracuse.”

Another part of the proposal is that witnesses would earn amnesty of whatever campus violations they committed if they cooperate with the investigation. Cuomo said rapes become difficult to rule on since other students do not want to admit to being at the party, a potential admission of a campus policy violation.

Toward the end of the speech, Cuomo said he will help right the wrong of the way on-campus sexual assault has previously been handled.

“The woman was the victim,” Cuomo said. “And the person who did it committed a crime. Didn’t just do a bad thing, didn’t just violate campus policy and the motto of the school. It is a crime to abuse or assault someone. And it should be treated as a crime.”

Published on May 6, 2015 at 5:37 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds