New York State's "Enough is Enough" Bill

Summary of New York State's "Enough is Enough" Bill

Read the full text here.

The “Enough is Enough” Senate bill was signed into New York State law on July 7, 2015. Its purpose is to require all colleges and universities in the State of New York to implement uniform definitions of prohibited behavior, and prevention and response policies/procedures relating to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking that impact students on and off campus.  

Enough Is Enough sets out the following guidelines under the definition of Sexual Assault:

"Affirmative consent is a knowing, voluntary and mutual decision among all participants to engage in sexual activity. Consent can be given by words or actions, as long as those words or actions create clear permission regarding willingness to engage in the sexual activity. Silence or lack of resistance, in and of itself, does not demonstrate consent. The definition of consent does not vary based upon a participant's sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression."

  • Between or with any party does not necessarily constitute consent to any other sexual act. Consent is required regardless of whether the person initiating the act is under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.
  • Consent may be initially given but withdrawn at any time.
  • Consent cannot be given when a person is incapacitated, which occurs when  an  individual  lacks  the  ability to knowingly choose to participate in sexual activity. Incapacitation may be caused by the lack of consciousness or being asleep, being involuntarily restrained, or if an individual otherwise cannot consent.
  • Depending on the degree of intoxication, someone who is under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or other intoxicants may be incapacitated and therefore unable to consent.
    • Consent cannot be given when it is the result of any coercion, intimidation, force, or threat of harm.
  • When consent is withdrawn or can no longer be given, sexual activity must stop.

Bystanders or victims that report, in good faith, any incident of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking, will not be charged with an alcohol or drug use violation of the institution's code of conduct.

Requires that an institution adopt and implement a "Students' Bill of Rights" as part of its code of conduct. The Bill of Rights shall include, but is not limited to, the opportunity to report a sexual assault to law enforcement or the institution, or not to report, to be protected from retaliation, and to access services and resources. The Bill of Rights shall be distributed widely to students and college community members and shall be sent electronically to students at least once annually.

  • Institutions must notify students about rights and resources available to them and how the institution will respond to reports of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. In addition, victims will receive a short statement of their rights at the first instance of disclosure of a sexual assault: 
    • "You have the right to make a report to university police or campus security, local law enforcement, and/or state police or choose not to report; to report the incident to your institution; to be protected by the institution from retaliation for reporting an incident; and to receive assistance and resources from your institution."

Campus climate assessments must be conducted at least once every other year and must be developed using standard and commonly recognized research methods. Answers to such surveys remain anonymous and no individual respondent is identified. High-level results of such surveys must be posted on the institution’s website provided that no personally identifiable information shall be shared.

Institutions must use plain language when notifying students about the laws surrounding confidentiality and privacy, listing confidential and private resources that students can reach out to, and providing technical information about how institutions will respond to requests for confidentiality.

Institutions must develop and implement a year-round, ongoing campaign on sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking education and prevention.

Unless there is a waiver or court determination, a student's identifying information is deemed confidential and shall not be included in any proceedings brought against an institution seeking to vacate or modify a finding that a student was responsible for violating the institution's rules.

Institutions must annually report aggregate data and information about reports of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, or sexual assault. This shall include the total number of reports received, open and closed investigations, outcomes of such investigations, and penalties imposed on perpetrators.