U.S. investigates handling of alleged sex assaults at USC
Many of the students "were blamed for their victimization and were forced to watch impotently as their cases were routinely misreported, misconstrued, mishandled or discounted entirely," said Tucker Reed, one of the co-signers of the complaint who recently completed her junior year.
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The USC case is the latest in a series of investigations by the civil rights division focusing on whether colleges are complying with guidelines in Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. In 2011, the Education Department sent a letter informing institutions that "sexual harassment of students, which includes acts of sexual violence, is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title IX."
The department has opened investigations of Title IX offenses at UC Berkeley and Dartmouth, Swarthmore and Occidental colleges. A spokeswoman did not say how many similar cases the department was pursuing.
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Linda Fairstein, who was a sex crimes prosecutor in New York and is now a senior adviser on college policies and sex crimes at K2 Intelligence, an investigative and consulting firm, said the problem isn't new but has been deliberately kept secret by colleges and universities for decades despite laws designed to deal with the issue.
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Fairstein said some schools are very proactive and are bringing in advisers to write new policies.
"Smart educators are actually reaching out for advice before they get a complaint like those at Occidental," she said. Federal authorities began investigating Occidental College after a group of students, alumni and faculty filed a complaint in the spring against the school.
Afterward, Occidental President Jonathan Veitch announced several changes and said the college would have "a structured sexual-assault program at this fall's orientation that reflects revised policies and procedures."
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/22/local/la-me-usc-sexual-harassment-20130723
Freshman are most at risk.
Many of these schools don't have any reliable plan in place to help the victims or investigate the incidents. Both areas need experienced individuals in charge. The victims need counseling and support in specific ways.
The investigations have to be started immediately so that evidence can be recovered and statements taken asap. Campus cops cannot handle it. SVU units in police departments were set up because these crimes have need trained detectives who are experienced in sex crimes because they have unique angles.
The problem is magnified if there are athletes involved. The pressure from other students and fans to drop the cases can be intense. Here is an example of fan pressure. Kirk Herbstreit was an Ohio State QB who has worked on college FB for years with ESPN. He has 4 kids. When he expressed some criticism about the FB coach Jim Tressel, the threats and harassment was so bad that he moved to another state. Imagine that being directed at a student who reports a crime against a team member.
It is deplorable that these academic bastions have to be shamed and forced into taking meaningful action.
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