Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul stopped by Le Moyne College Tuesday to further the discussion about sexual assault on college campuses. The SUNY system recently passed a progressive set of rules to advocate for students of sexual assaults and how universities within the system respond. Le Moyne is also moving forward on the issue. Hochul thought that hearing from students would be the best way to get the message out in a more aggressive way.
“I was very impressed to see that there are campuses like Le Moyne, where they have a very intensive training program called relationship 101, which has become a national model for other universities. They role play and they talk about it, then there’s follow through. They hear something; see something; they say something.”
Hochul adds the element of openness and discussion was not included in SUNY’s original campus violence and sexual assault program. However, that’s exactly what LeMoyne Political Science Student Lee-Anne Pedrick says her college's program is all about.
“What we do differently is we break out in smaller sessions, where we have ten students with an R. A. and maybe a faculty member. We’ll discuss ‘what goes on’ and ‘what does consent mean to them.’ How can you be an active bystander, meaning that if you see something, you say something, even if it’s just ‘hey, is she o.k.?’”
Pedrick also feels that authorities should not penalize students when they report something bad… because it could actually discourage prevention efforts aimed at stopping behaviors that lead to sexual assaults. Hochul met with young women representing students from her Alma Mater, Syracuse University, Binghamton and Cornell Universities.
Hochul is the running mate for Andrew Cuomo. That ticket is going up against GOP challengers Rob Astorino and his Lieutenant Governor candidate Chris Moss, as well as Gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins of the Green Party who's running with Brian Jones.
