On Thursday, the Obama administration announced that it has launched a probe on 55 colleges and universities in the US which will be investigated for their handling of sexual assault and harassment complaints on campuses. The probe will reportedly look into whether the schools have violated federal laws for their handling with sexual violence in their jurisdictions. The schools, of which the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights had enumerated in a list, included Michigan State University, Arizona State University, Princeton University, Catholic University of America, Florida State University and Swarthmore College.
In a statement, Education Department's assistant secretary for civil rights Catherine Lhamon said, "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."
Reuters said that the production of the list is the first of its kind and has been done as part of the administration's efforts to curb sexual harassment and sexual violence in campuses. Moreover, the latest developments were also done to pressure schools from doing more to prevent and punish people responsible for the assaults.
The news agency said that the investigation will be conducted under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which provides students the right to fully participate in educational and other opportunities at schools that receive federal funds without gender bias. Citing the results of a three-month study conducted by a task force created under President Barack Obama to address the issue, one in five women and a smaller number of men experienced being sexually assaulted in college, and that cases of such are not being reported.
According to a spokesman for the Department of Education, the agency will negotiate a resolution with any school who have been found to have violated federal laws regarding sexual assault and harassment handling. Moreover, it has been said that any college who has refused to comply or negotiate in lieu of the investigation could be subject to further enforcement action like withdrawal of federal funding or litigation by the Justice Department.
