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
