Crisco backs bills to aid college students, veterans

HARTFORD - State Sen. Joseph J. Crisco, Jr., D-Woodbridge, joined the unanimous and bipartisan Senate passage Tuesday of two bills designed to help Connecticut college students: making sexual assault nurses available for exams on the UConn Storrs college campus, and examining ways to make Connecticut’s ‘OASIS’ (Operation Academic Support for Incoming Service Members) centers for veterans more effective. 

State Sen. Joseph J. Crisco

“College students in Connecticut have acute needs and it is essential that we listen and respond to them,” Crisco said. 
“That means ensuring that victims of sexual assault have immediate access to the best care available, and making veterans’ on-campus support centers the best they can be for our students.”

Both bills passed the Senate on unanimous, bipartisan votes; the two bills had also passed out of their respective committees on unanimous and bipartisan votes. 

The two bills passed are: 

Senate Bill 966, An Act Concerning Sexual Assault Forensic Examiners at Institutions of Higher Education. The bill would extend a successful sexual assault forensic examination program from six acute care hospitals in the state to the University of Connecticut infirmary—thereby providing the victims of a campus sexual assault with quicker, more compassionate care. 
SAFE nurses (Sexual Assault Forensic Examiners) receive 40 hours of classroom training and have specialized knowledge of legal issues such as chain of custody and courtroom testimony. From July 2013 to July 2014, SAFE nurses responded to 173 sexual assault cases.

Senate Bill 694, An Act Concerning Services Available to Veterans on State College and University Campuses. Each public college in Connecticut has a veterans’ OASIS (Operation Academic Support for Incoming Service Members) center, usually a lounge area in a student center for some of the 6,000 veterans enrolled in Connecticut colleges and universities. 
Veterans use the OASIS centers to meet, study, relax and to gather information on federal veterans benefits, the GI Bill, tuition waivers, disability benefits and more. Each college OASIS is slightly different, however, and SB 694 requires the Board of Regents for Higher Education and UConn to evaluate and assess the different programs offered at the OASIS centers and to identify successful programming there. 


This is a press release from Crisco's office.