The “Enough is Enough” Initiative was created to stop sexual assaults from happening on college campuses around the state. Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul wanted to personally deliver the message to college students, because she says they play a key role in reporting sexual assaults when they happen, but also preventing them from happening in the first place.
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. -- Ending sexual violence is part of Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul's mission.
“It is not acceptable to touch a woman. You have no right. Without her permission, you have no right to go further, and that's what Enough is Enough is all about,” Hochul said.
But to achieve it, she's seeking help from the very people it commonly affects.
“It's got to start even younger than you [college students]," she said. "Young men in grade school have to know that women are not objects, they are co-equals, and they deserve every single right that a man has, and that includes the right not to be touched without permission."
"I think that sexual assault is a very important issue especially on college campuses,” said Ben Megathlin, the senior class vice president at Union College.
Faculty at Union have the same goal, working to make students aware of the resources on campus.
“This isn't something that we want to have happen on our campus -- [but] reality is we know it's happening on college campuses throughout the state -- but to help students know that we are here to help them,” said Melissa Kelley, the Title IX coordinator at Union.
Ensuring the “Enough is Enough” initiative reduces sexual assaults on college campuses can be difficult when some national conversations go against everything the law stands for.
"There is no locker room in this country where the language that we heard this past week is tolerated,” Hochul said.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made sexual comments in 2005 that recently surfaced on video. Hochul says his words make the fight to end sexual violence even harder.
“I am still shocked when I think about that someone said this ever in any society, but a person running for president, leader of the free world, to say that? It's beyond the pale, and I don’t see how anybody could continue to support him in light of that,” Hochul said.
But with the negative conversations of sexual assaults come the positive ones that reiterate the importance of ending a culture that accepts sexual abuse.
“Create a culture here where people don't feel stigmatized; they can come forward,” Hochul said.
That mission, she continued, can only be complete with help from our youth.
“I'm counting on them that they understand that that is not who we are as a country, and it's not acceptable,” Hochul said.