A new law aimed at college campuses has redefined the concept of sexual violence, expanding its definition to include dating violence, stalking, and same-sex assaults. According to an article that ran just last week on NPR's website, John Kelly, a senior at Tufts University in Medford, MA, was part of the impetus behind these new rules.
Kelly became a campus and national activist after reporting that he had been sexually assaulted in August 2012 by an ex-boyfriend. A Tufts misconduct board suspended the ex-boyfriend, but the investigation took four months, which is twice as long as federal guidelines recommend. In the past year, Kelly has testified before the U.S. Senate and spoken at the White House about his experience and, earlier this year, he was the student alternate member on a committee of educators, government officials, and advocates who were chosen to write the regulations for implementing the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act.
The Campus SaVE Act, which was passed by Congress in 2013 as part of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, clarifies the rights of victims to go to local police, get referrals for health care, and be guaranteed a fair hearing process.
You can read more about this law, and about same-sex assault statistics on college campuses, here.
