SB-967

On Sunday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a “yes means yes” campus sexual assault bill and another that gives state loans to undocumented students — two pieces of legislation that will directly impact California colleges.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday signed into law an affirmative consent standard at college campuses, a bill that allows qualifying undocumented students to receive state loans and a pilot program that authorizes some community colleges to confer bachelor’s degrees.

Exacerbated by notions of assumed consent in modern ‘hookup culture,’ abundant drug and alcohol use, misunderstandings and malevolence, sexual assault — and university and government authorities’ failure to properly respond to it — has become an epidemic.

Flanked by about 20 students from colleges across the state, three Sacramento lawmakers announced legislation Monday that would tighten sexual assault policies at all California colleges, both public and private, to make them more “victim-centered.”