Dive Brief:
- The New York Times profiles the increasing occurrence of repeat sexual assault offenders on college campuses and outlines the pressure it places on administrators to resolve rape claims.
- Kansas State University and Indiana University are among the high-profile institutional examples of students accused of multiple counts of sexual assault, and the process which students and advocates have deemed ineffective in pursuing and enacting institutional sanctions against the accused. In both cases, campus police declined to pursue charges or were alleged to have mishandled investigations.
- Some officials say that claims made about assaults alleged to have taken place off-campus often primes colleges to leave investigation and prosecution to civic authorities.
Dive Insight:
Title IX compliance, particularly with off-campus incidents, is a complex matter that leagues of lawyers and university executives continue to debate. While there are few actions a school can take to prevent sexual assault, and some rules may soon change regarding federal influence over Title IX compliance, all schools can do more to publicize zero-tolerance policies against rape and to encourage reporting from students to multiple officials.
Giving students the facts about Title IX compliance, reporting culture and standards and helping other students to be accountable for behavior or scenarios which have commonly been tied to sexual assault may not be a standard of prevention in a student accusation, but it is a record of institutional commitment to deterring the action.