EWING, N.J. – Amid a nationwide investigation by the Obama administration into how colleges handle rape accusations, the College of New Jersey is spelling out to students exactly what it considers sexual consent.

The revised school policy released this week emphasizes that “students cannot grant their consent for sexual activity if they are sleeping or incapacitated,” NJ.com reports.

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“I think in order for us to do our job as educators we need to have the conversation with our students about consent and what it means to be under the influence and attempt to get somebody’s consent,” College of New Jersey vice president of student affairs Amy Hecht told the news site.

“We want them to make smart, informed decisions about any type of sexual activity, especially involving alcohol.”

The new policy swaps the word “intoxicated” with “incapacitated” in defining “effective consent.”

It defines effective consent as “informed, freely and actively given mutually understandable words or actions which indicate a willingness to participate in mutually agreed upon sexual activity.”

“The college also added a lengthy definition of the term ‘incapacitated’ that specifies that an individual cannot give consent if they lack control over physical movements or are unable to communicate,” NJ.com reports.

In the past, the College of New Jersey has used a hearing process to consider rape allegations that involve the accuser and accused presenting their case to a panel comprised of staff and students. The revised rape policy now uses an investigative process to collect facts and present a report to the school’s administration, eliminating the involvement of students in staff in the process.

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“The thought of being in a formalized hearing where there were more people in the room to hear a very private, personal story was a deterrent to” the accusers, College of New Jersey dean of students Angela Chong told the news site.

According to NJ.com:

Currently, four New Jersey universities — Princeton, Monmouth, Rider and Seton Hall universities — are being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education for their handling of reported sexual assault cases. 

A similar investigation of TCNJ that began in 2000 concluded that the college failed to disclose several campus sexual assault investigations in publicly available crime statistics. 

A follow-up in 2010-11 found no problems with the college’s sexual-assault reporting, according to the U.S. Department of Education. 

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported earlier this year that college sexual assault investigations by the Office for Civil Rights under Obama’s U.S. Department of Education have tripled over the last year and a half.

Currently, the news site’s “online investigation tracker” shows the federal agency is conducting a total 254 investigations of colleges for potentially mishandling rape cases.

“How colleges end up on the list, how long they will remain there, and on what points they would be found in or out of compliance with the federal gender-equality law known as Title IX remain a mystery to most college officials,” The Chronicle reported.