Facing scrutiny over its practices for responding to sexual assault, a liberal arts college in Iowa has taken the unusual step of asking federal investigators to review whether three cases were handled appropriately.
Grinnell College President Raynard Kington asked the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights to determine whether the college complied with Title IX, the federal law that bars sex discrimination in education.
The office praised the request Tuesday as a sign of progress toward addressing campus sexual violence. However, a student activist group, Dissenting Voices, called it a public relations move to get ahead of negative publicity and a Title IX complaint that it filed Feb. 19.
"It is simply a way of providing cover to the institution after years of betraying survivors," the group said in a statement.
The statement praised Grinnell for making some recent "excellent policy changes" but said they did not fully address issues raised in its complaint.
Read more at The Associated Press: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/education/2015/03/03/grinnell-college-sex-assault-review/24333195/