Cal State University officials have announced that each of the system’s 23 campuses will have a confidential sexual assault victim advocate in place by June.

Last week’s announcement comes amid calls from lawmakers and advocacy groups to strengthen campus policies against sexual assault, and bolster programs that combat what some say is an epidemic of sexual violence among college students.

“We must do all we can, as quickly as we can to prevent sexual violence, and educate and train our entire community to reduce the prevalence of and dispel the myths surrounding it,” CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White wrote in response to Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer’s call for universities and colleges to place a sexual assault victim’s advocate on every campus.

Boxer sent letters Sept. 18 to White, as well as California Community Colleges Chancellor Brice W. Harris, Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities President Kristen F. Soares and California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools Executive Director Robert W. Johnson, asking them to follow the University of California system’s lead and create an independent confidential advocacy office for sexual assault victims on each of its campuses by January.

“Because of our system’s governance structure, we cannot edict what our colleges do,” Paige Marlatt-Dorr, spokeswoman for California Community Colleges, said in an email. “However, this issue is extremely important and Chancellor Harris is going to very strongly recommend to our presidents that they identify a confidential advocate and ensure that support services are available for victims on every campus.”

Boxer also has demanded that colleges and universities implement the provisions of her Survivor Outreach and Support Campus Act.

Joined by Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, Boxer introduced the SOS Campus Act in July, which would require colleges and universities receiving federal funding to designate a campus advocate who ensures survivors of sexual assault have access to emergency and follow up medical care, as well as other services, including counselling about their legal rights.

CSU announced this week that it supports the legislation.

The 23-campus system already has some advocates in place, and White has pledged to expand the effort to each campus. Presidents have committed to lead the efforts at each of their campuses, and CSU has implemented training programs for freshmen and transfer students.

Spokesman Mike Uhlenkamp said each campus provides referrals to counseling and services, some of which are off campus.

Uhlenkamp said the CSU Chancellor’s Office is preparing to hire a systemwide Title IX compliance officer, adding that it may be the first systemwide position of its kind in the nation. The officer will work with all 23 campus-based Title IX coordinators on policy, legal issues and outreach efforts.

“We’ve been engaged with Sen. Boxer’s team,” Uhlenkamp said. “As they were updating their list of supporters on the legislation, at that time not only did we support the legislation, but we already had made this commitment.”

Cal State Long Beach has two teams. A Title IX committee of about 10 individuals navigates federal and state law around equity and diversity, and translates those laws into student-centric policies and practices on campus. The campus also has a “project safe” committee of 20 people that responds and educates.

Linda Pena, a sexual assault victim’s advocate on both teams, works with victims, typically after a clinician’s medical assessment.

“I’ll spend time with them and I will go through a packet of everything we offer to the student as a campus,” Pena said.

That includes information on their Title IX rights, references to counseling and police services on and off campus, accommodations for test-taking if the student needs more time, and a reference to the YWCA, which handles rape crisis issues.

Pena said she may work with a student once or for least two years in some cases, depending on what services they want from the university. While advocates present various legal options and other services, they don’t push a victim to take particular actions, she said.

“I am listening to the student, and it’s very important that when one is moving from victim to survivor, they are supported in the action they take on their own behalf,” Pena said.

Larisa Hamada, the director of equity and diversity and the Title IX coordinator at CSULB, said she conducted about 70 campus trainings last year on the issues related to sexual assault and the rights of victims.

“We recognize we have under-reporting on campus, so we are doing everything we possibly can to make sure people come forward and report,” she said.

CSU as a system also supported SB 967, which requires campuses that receive public funding for student aid to set a so-called “affirmative consent” standard for investigations into allegations of sexual assault.

Authored by state Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, and co-authored by Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, the bill, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed Sunday, defines affirmative consent as “affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity,” and says affirmative consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual activity and can be revoked at any time.

The UC system in February adopted a similar policy when SB 967 was introduced. Critics of the bill say it can’t be enforced and will likely lead to more litigation.

The recent push for tougher policies against sexual assault on campus has followed a much-cited statistic that one in five women on campus is a victim.

President Barack Obama on Sept. 19 launched the “It’s On Us” initiative — a national campaign against sexual assault on college campuses — by saying, “An estimated one in five women has been sexually assaulted during her college years — one in five. Of those assaults, only 12 percent are reported, and of those reported assaults, only a fraction of the offenders are punished.”

Critics of SB 967 and similar efforts across the country say the “one-in-five women” statistic comes from a 2007 federally funded Campus Sexual Assault Study, and similar studies that used broad definitions of sexual violence to artificially inflate the problem.

The preponderance of the evidence standard in campus investigations also is a major point of contention, with critics calling it a slipshod way of meting out justice that fails to give due process to those falsely accused.

“They have reduced the standard of evidence from what it should be to the standard they would use if somebody cheated on a test,” said Teri Stoddard, the California-based program director at Stop Abusive and a Violent Environments, a nonprofit advocacy group working on behalf of sexual assault victims and the falsely accused.

Contact Josh Dulaney at 562-714-2150.