Today, 55 colleges across the country were named as targets in a federal investigation for mishandling sexual assault cases.
The Department of Education (DOE) released the list of schools under investigation to increase awareness of federal requirements under Title IX of the Patsy Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act.
"We hope this increased transparency will spur community dialogue about this important issue," the DOE Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Catherine Lhamon, wrote in a statement.
Title IX bans schools from tolerating sex discrimination or an environment that infringes on a student's right to learn based on their sex. The department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is investigating the possible violations, and considers sexual harassment and violence to be a form of discrimination under the law.
Three Ivy League schools are on the list of violaters—Harvard (University and Law School), Dartmouth College, and Princeton University. Other schools under investigation include The Ohio State University, Carnegie Mellon University, Boston University, and Vanderbilt University.
Lhamon stated that schools on the list have not been convicted of Title IX violations, but investigations are ongoing.
Massachusetts is the state with the most violations with six schools on the list. Pennsylvania has five schools under investigation, and California, Colorado, and New York each have four colleges under investigation.
According to Fox News, schools that have been found guilty of Title IX violations have never had their funding taken away. Instead, the government has chosen to enter into negotiations with the college to reach a resolution.
After the list was made public, many schools released statements saying that they are working with federal authorities to resolve any outstanding problems.
Oklahoma State University Director of Communications Gary Shutt stated that the school is committed to the safety of everyone on its campus.
"Oklahoma State University is gathering information requested by the U.S. Department of Education," Shutt wrote in a statement.
"The university will work with DOE as the department conducts this compliance review. Oklahoma State University is committed to providing the safest campus possible for students and others.
"In the last year, OSU conducted an exhaustive, system-wide review of our policies related to sexual abuse on campus. As a result of that review, OSU has further strengthened its policies."
The 55 colleges under investigation as of May 1 are:
Arizona Arizona State University
California Butte-Glen Community College District Occidental College University of California at Berkeley University of Southern California
Colorado Regis University University of Colorado at Boulder University of Colorado at Denver University of Denver
Connecticut University of Connecticut
District of Columbia Catholic University of America
Florida Florida State University
Georgia Emory University
Hawaii University of Hawaii at Manoa
Idaho University of Idaho
Illinois Knox College University of Chicago
Indiana Indiana University-Bloomington Vincennes University
Massachusetts Amherst College Boston University Emerson College Harvard College Harvard University Law School University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Maryland Frostburg State University
Michigan Michigan State University University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
New Hampshire Dartmouth College
New Jersey Princeton University
New York CUNY Hunter College Hobart and William Smith Colleges Sarah Lawrence College SUNY at Binghamton
North Carolina Guilford College University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
North Dakota Minot State University
Ohio Denison University Ohio State University Wittenberg University
Oklahoma Oklahoma State University
Pennsylvania Carnegie Mellon University Franklin and Marshall College Pennsylvania State University Swarthmore College Temple University
Tennessee Vanderbilt University
Texas Southern Methodist University The University of Texas Pan-American
Virginia College of William and Mary University of Virginia
Washington Washington State University
West Virginia Bethany College West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
Wisconsin University of Wisconsin at Whitewater
