Johnson made clear she was not advising students against advocating for changes to the policy, but suggested that affirmative consent could persist as a cultural policy, even without its inclusion in the written policy.

“Culturally, affirmative consent is something we can embrace as a community, even if that phrase doesn't appear in the policy,” Johnson said.

The Council also passed two pieces of legislation designed to promote racial and gender diversity on the body. The first allocated $30o from the Student Relations Committee’s budget for the work of two new positions—the gender inclusivity liaison and the race inclusivity liaison.

The second co-sponsored a panel discussion about women in leadership with women’s groups on campus and the Institute of Politics.

UC representatives also approved another wave of grants amounting to about $7,500 and approved plans for a freshman town hall event. The event had originally been tabled last week amid discussions about scheduling.

—Staff writer Noah J. Delwiche can be reached at noah.delwiche@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @ndelwiche.

This article has been revised to reflect the following clarification:

CLARIFICATION: October 14, 2014 

An earlier version of this article stated that the committee that ultimately formulated the University's new sexual harassment policy convened in May. To clarify, the group convened in May 2013.