OLR Report 2016-R-0006
provides each Connecticut higher education institution’s current definition of
“consent” in sexual relationships and provides a source for each. Also, the
report indicates whether each institution submitted a report to the Higher
Education and Employment Advancement Committee in 2015 about its sexual
assault, stalking, and intimate partner violence policies as required by law.
Currently,
each Connecticut public and private higher education institution defines sexual
“consent” for purposes of the institution’s conduct codes and disciplinary
proceedings. Such definitions are
typically found in the institution’s student conduct code or Title IX policy
handbook.
Generally,
each institution’s definition contains all or many of the following: (1) a
basic definition of “consent,” (2) method(s) of expressing consent, (3)
duration, (4) parties’ relationships, (5) revocation, (6) coercion, and (7)
legal age.
Institutions
may soon be required to incorporate a “yes means yes,” or affirmative consent
standard, into their campus policies. Substitute
House Bill 5376, which passed in both the House and Senate, requires all Connecticut
colleges and universities to use a standard of affirmative consent when
determining whether sexual activity is consensual in the context of their
institutional policies on sexual assault, stalking, and intimate partner
violence. This requirement would be in
place beginning with the 2016-17 academic year.
The bill
defines “affirmative consent” as an active, clear, and voluntary agreement by a
person to engage in sexual activity with another person. It specifies that
higher education institutions are not required to adopt the bill's definition
verbatim but must use a definition that has the same or a substantially similar
meaning.
The
governor must now decide whether to sign the bill into law.
