On Jan. 31, State Representative Donna Veach (R-Berlin) wrote a letter to the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee asking them to re-examine House Bill 6099, which would allow victims of intimate partner violence access to university disciplinary investigations regardless of their student status.
The bill, titled An Act Concerning Investigations of Intimate Partner Violence by Institutions of Higher Education, was originally proposed in Jan. 2023. Veach said she sponsored the bill after being emailed by Berlin resident Michele Fischer-Paul, “either in late fall or early summer of 2022.” In 2020, a family member close to Fischer-Paul was allegedly shut out of a Central Connecticut State University disciplinary hearings process after reporting an assault at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, then a CCSU baseball player.
“It’s my job to listen and help my constituents, and I try to address their concerns, regardless of big or small they may be,” said Rep. Veach. “We thought it definitely had merit, and were hoping to get it moved along.”
After a 10 month long investigation, CCSU did not allow the victim or her family to attend the final disciplinary hearing, and the school told them that the case had been closed. CCSU did not share any of the findings of their investigation or any potential disciplinary actions taken with the complainant or her family.
The proposed bill would ensure that colleges conducting investigations into intimate partner violence where the accused is a student and the victim is not would have to notify the victim of the investigation and give them an opportunity to participate, clarify to victims their roles and responsibilities in investigations, and share with them any findings.
Fischer-Paul, in a Change.org petition created on the subject, said she was told that CCSU did not take the investigation seriously as a result of the fact that the complainant and alleged abuser were not in an ongoing relationship, and because the complainant was not herself a student at CCSU.
“A friend who is a faculty member of CCSU said he heard a rumor that they dismissed our case because the victim was not in an active relationship with the student,” reads the petition. “I was also told that CCSU did not include us in the hearing because they have no obligation to anyone other than a student.”
The petition, which is currently sitting at 376 signatures out of 500, is set to expire on Feb. 28. Fischer-Paul stated in the petition that she plans to “personally deliver” the petition to Governor Ned Lamont’s office once finished.
The bill did not pass in last year’s legislative session, which Veach believes could have been for any number of reasons.
“Depending on what’s been submitted, and what the particulars are and the situation, some things get moved and some things you have to go back and re-introduce,” said Veach. “I really can’t tell you why it did not get moved along initially, but we’re hoping we’ll get a hearing on this moving forward.”
A public hearing would allow Fischer-Paul, who reported the assault, or other concerned residents willing to testify, the ability to speak their minds on the bill, and potentially share similar experiences. Public hearings are required by Connecticut State Law to be held by a committee before they can vote to approve a new bill or amend an existing one. Veach also noted that Fischer-Paul would be writing a letter of her own to the Committee on Higher Education to ask for a hearing.
In spite of her hopes, however, Veach did recognize that this year’s shorter legislative session, spanning only from early February to early May, might make it more difficult to pass. She also noted that in shorter sessions, bills of a fiduciary nature often take priority and that this bill’s lack of dollar signs may end up getting it pushed further down the docket again.
Veach said that for the bill to get passed, the committee will have to read her letter, determine whether the bill warrants a hearing, and then only after a hearing is held on the bill, can it be potentially brought to the floor of the General Assembly.
“It’s a short session, I’m very hopeful, but I have to also understand that there’s a limited amount of time and resources to get things through on a short session,” said Veach. “So if we have to go back to the drawing board again next year, we will.”
CCSU is not the only Connecticut college that has come under fire in recent years for alleged mishandling of internal investigations involving women as victims. In 2014, UConn paid out a $1.3 million settlement to five female students who sued the university for treating their reports of rape and sexual assault with indifference. In 2022, hundreds of UConn students participated in a walk-out over what they perceived to be a mishandling of a student-reported rape.
According to statistics from the 2023 Annual Reports that 30 Connecticut colleges submitted to the Committee of Higher Education, there were 130 incidents of sexual assault, fondling or forcible rape reported, 82 incidents of domestic or intimate partner violence reported, and 61 incidents of stalking reported from 2022-2023. Notably, CCSU reported four incidents of sexual assault, and two incidents of intimate partner violence, yet did not include any disciplinary cases resulting from investigations.
Commenters on the Change.org petition made their thoughts clear on the alleged way Fischer-Paul’s investigation was handled.
“Justice must be served and this type of inaction must stop,” said petition signee Kathleen Beaty.
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Please do a follow up story. Representative Donna Veach’s proposed bill was reintroduced as HB7100, a public hearing was held and the Higher Education Committee unanimously approved the Bill in March 2025. It was part of a larger scope bill dealing with Title IX .