Maine colleges adopt ‘yes means yes’ affirmative consent policies

The University of Maine System has agreed to adopt an affirmative consent policy Monday.

Now that the policy has been approved by UMaine’s board of trustees, students must verbally consent to any and all sexual activity or face punishment from the university.

“Silence, in and of itself, cannot be interpreted as consent,” the policy states.

“Past consent does not imply future consent,” UMaine’s policy reads. “Consent to engage in one form of sexual activity does not imply consent to engage in any other sexual activity.”

All students and university employees must also undergo education and training, according to WGME.

UMaine trustees formally adopted the approved the policy which has already been adopted in other states such as California. New Hampshire lawmakers have also proposed similar policies for their university systems.

There are seven schools within the UMaine system.

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