55 Schools Face Sexual Assault Investigation

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department on Thursday took the unprecedented step of releasing the names of the 55 colleges and universities currently facing a Title IX investigation over their handling of sexualabuse complaints.

The release came two days after a White House task force promised greater government transparency on sexual assault in higher education. Going forward, the department said, it will keep an updated list of schools facing such an investigation and make it available upon request.

The agency previously would confirm such an investigation when asked, but students and others were often unaware of them.

“We hope this increased transparency will spur community dialogue about this important issue,” Catherine E. Lhamon, the department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement.

Lhamon said a school’s appearance on the list does not mean that it has violated the law but that aninvestigation is ongoing.

Title IX prohibits gender discrimination at schools that receive federal funds. It is the same law that guarantees girls equal access to sports, but it also regulates institutions’ handling of sexual violence and increasingly is being used by victims who say their schools failed to protect them.

Citing research, the White House has said that 1 in 5 female students is assaulted. President Barack Obama appointed a task force comprised of his Cabinet members to review the issue after hearing complaints about the poor treatment of campus rape victims and the hidden nature of such crimes.

The task force announced the creation of a website, notalone.gov, offering resources for victims and information about past enforcement actions on campuses. The task force also made a wide range of recommendations to schools, such as identifying confidential victims’ advocates and conducting surveys to better gauge the frequency of sexual assault on their campuses.

The department publicized guidance on Title IX’s sexual assault provisions in 2011, and complaints by students have since increased. Complaints, however, don’t always lead to an investigation.

The department can withhold federal funding from a school that doesn’t comply with the law, but it so far has not used that power and instead has negotiated voluntary resolutions for violators.

Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., have said non-compliance under the law is “far too common.” They say a lack of federal resources is partly to blame for that, and they’ve sought more money to ensure timely and proper investigations.

Another law that campus sexual assault cases fall under is the Clery Act, which requires colleges anduniversities to report crime statistics on or near their campuses. It also requires schools to develop prevention policies and ensure victims their basic rights. Investigations under this law are not included in the list that wasreleased.

Here are the schools:

Arizona
Arizona State University

California
Butte-Glen Community College District,
Occidental College,
University of California-Berkeley,
University of Southern California

Colorado
Regis University,
University of Colorado at Boulder,
University of Colorado at Denver,
University of Denver

Connecticut
University of Connecticut

DC
Catholic University of America

Florida
Florida State University

Georgia
Emory University

Hawaii
University of Hawaii at Manoa

Idaho
University of Idaho

Illinois
Knox College
University of Chicago

Indiana
Indiana University-Bloomington,
Vincennes University


Massachusetts
Amherst College,
Boston University,
Emerson College,
Harvard College,
Harvard University—Law School,
University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Maryland
Frostburg State University

Michigan
Michigan State University,
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

North Carolina
Guilford College,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

North Dakota
Minot State University

New Hampshire
Dartmouth College

New Jersey
Princeton University

New York
Cuny Hunter College,
Hobart and William Smith Colleges,
Sarah Lawrence College,
Suny at Binghamton

Ohio
Denison University,
Ohio State University,
Wittenberg University

Oklahoma
Oklahoma State University

Pennsylvania
Carnegie Mellon University,
Franklin and Marshall College,
Pennsylvania State University,
Swarthmore College,
Temple University

Tennessee
Vanderbilt University

Texas
Southern Methodist University,
The University of Texas-Pan American

Virginia
College of William and Mary,
University of Virginia

Washington
Washington State University

Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

West Virginia
Bethany College,
West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicin

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.