The Obama administration last week released the names of 55 colleges and universities under investigation for their handling of sexual assault complaints, an unusual step meant to increase pressure on the institutions to crack down on the problem on their campuses.
It was the first time that the Department of Education had made public a comprehensive list of colleges under investigation for potential violations of federal antidiscrimination law under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The law prohibits gender discrimination at colleges that receive federal money.
The colleges under investigation include Ivy League institutions like Dartmouth, Harvard and Princeton; other private universities like Boston University, the University of Chicago, Swarthmore and the University of Southern California; and public universities including Florida State, the University of Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State. The list also included less well known institutions like the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.
The list was made public three days after the White House released a reportdrafted by a sexual assault task force aimed at pressuring schools to better comply with federal law and prevent sexual attacks.
“We are making this list available in an effort to bring more transparency to our enforcement work and to foster better public awareness of civil rights,” Catherine E. Lhamon, the assistant education secretary for civil rights, said in a written statement.
Read more at The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/02/us/politics/us-lists-colleges-under-inquiry-over-sex-assault-cases.html?_r=1