Dive Summary:
- The Board of Regents for Oklahoma State University and the A&M Colleges concluded in a special counsel's report released Monday that officials at OSU misinterpreted the Federal Education Rights Privacy Act in their handling of a sexual assault case.
- Officials claimed the act prevented them from reporting the sexual assault allegations to police, but the report says police could have been immediately informed without violating the act and that, while "misguided," the officials's response did not break any law or internal policy.
- Stillwater police began investigating the alleged assaults by former student Nathan Cochran after learning of them via OSU's student newspaper on Dec. 7, nearly a month after university officials learned of them on Nov. 12.
From the article:
The response by officials at Oklahoma State University to a series of sexual assault reports on campus was “misguided,” according to a report from OSU's governing board. A special counsel's report from the Board of Regents for Oklahoma State University and the A&M Colleges concludes OSU officials misinterpreted the Federal Education Rights Privacy Act in their handling of the case. University officials have claimed the act barred them from calling police after they learned of allegations of sexual assaults. ...