On Wednesday, students and alumni of Swarthmore College, the University of Southern California, the University of California, Berkeley, and Dartmouth College filed federal complaints against their respective schools for failing to adequately address sexual assault and harassment on campus. If found guilty by the Department of Education, the campuses could be subject to disciplinary actions, including fines and the loss of federal funding for student aid.

The complainants allege that the colleges have violated either the Clery Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, or both. The Clery Act requires all campuses to report crime statistics, including for sexual assault, and Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination at educational institutions.

“We are asking the Department of Education to open an investigation into these complaints and take appropriate actions to force these colleges to comply with the law or risk losing their federal funding,” said Gloria Allred, a civil rights attorney representing many of the plaintiffs.

A growing number of students at major colleges and universities have been stepping up their efforts to combat rape and sexual assault in schools. Last month, Los Angeles’ Occidental College was served with similar federal complaints. The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill is undergoing a federal investigation for allegedly threatening to expel a student who spoke out publicly about her own rape.

Other elite institutions such as the University of Notre Dame, Harvard University, and Amherst College have also been in the news over complaints that administrators have failed to foster a safe campus environment and contributed to victim-blaming and rape culture. Just last week, Yale University was forced to pay a $165,000 fine after federal investigators determined that it had violated the Clery Act by failing to report instances of rape.

While some colleges have taken small steps towards improving their policies on sexual assault and campus safety, the latest round of federal complaints underscores how entrenched rape culture is in many American campuses.

A seven-year investigation into Yale University’s sexual assault policy has resulted in a $165,000 fine for the prestigious university, which failed to accurately report the number of sexual crimes on campus. Underreporting rape cases is a violation of the Clery Act, which requires colleges to disclose those crime statistics to the U.S. government.

The U.S. Department of Education first began investigating Yale in 2004, when a Yale Alumni Magazine article brought the mishandled sexual assault cases to the attention of the community. The resulting investigation verified that the university failed to report four cases of sex offenses on its campus in 2001 and 2002. Over the past several years, Yale has worked with the Department of Education to improve its reporting policies — but federal officials maintain that those efforts don’t eliminate the seriousness of the university’s past failings, or the need for some kind of punishment. Yale is being fined $27,500 for each of the unreported crimes.

“This is a serious violation because current and prospective students/employees must be able to rely on accurate and complete crime information,” Mary Gust, the director of the Department of Educations’s Administrative Actions and Appeals Service Group, said in a letter to Yale. “Yale’s correction of the crime statistics only after the department alerted the university of its obligations in 2004 does not excuse its earlier failure to comply with its legal obligations.”

The situation on Yale’s campus mirrors similar issues at other universities across the country that are continuing to grapple with rape culture. Particularly at elite institutions, administrators are often accused of sweeping sexual assault under the rug in order to maintain their school’s prestigious reputation. Amherst College, Swarthmore College, Dartmouth College, and Harvard University are just a few of the universities that have made recent headlines for allegedly creating a hostile environment for survivors of sexual assault.

Some college activists are beginning to mobilize to push for change on their campuses, and there has been some gradual progress recently. But as Yale demonstrates, that change can be painfully slow. The university is only now being fined for violations that occurred over a decade ago — and since then, students brought forth another complaint in 2011, and the rate of sexual assaults on campus soared to “historic levels” this year.

The issue of sexual assault on college campuses has captured headlines over the past several months, as students and faculty on several college campuses have filed formal complaints with the U.S. Department of Education alleging that their universities’ administrations have underreported rape cases or mistreated rape victims. In response, a network of campus activists have taken advantage of the current momentum around rape culture to push for change.

Now, on campuses across the country, their work is beginning to have an impact. Change is slow, and there’s no guarantee that university administrations will make an immediate turnaround. But the following institutions are taking small steps in the right direction to ensure that students’ concerns are being heard and sexual crimes are being taken seriously:

University of Montana: After a yearlong federal investigation into the way that UM officials deal with sexual crimes, the university reached a settlement with the Department of Justice and the Department of Education last week. UM agreed to an overhaul of its sexual assault policies, which the administration will implement over the next two years. The federal government is hailing the UM settlement as a success story and hoping it can serve as a model for campuses across the country, although some campus activists are a bit more skeptical that it will bring about dramatic change. But it’s a start. In another encouraging sign for Montana students, the DOJ also reached a settlement with the Missoula Police Department this week, which will officially compel the local police force to stop mistreating survivors of sexual assault.

University of North Carolina: UNC is currently undergoing a federal investigation for mishandling rape cases on campus, and a new campus task force charged with resolving the issue is hoping to look to the University of Montana for guidance as it works to update its own protocol. The university formed a 22-member task force this week to review UNC’s sexual assault policies and look for areas of reform. Since the five women who filed the federal complaint against UNC alleged that the current sexual assault policy was too vague, perhaps partly because it was written by just a handful of select administrators, the task force will include student and faculty representatives.

Stanford University: At the beginning of this month, Stanford announced that the administration will partner with student groups to initiate a campus-wide campaign around issues of sexual assault and rape culture. The student activists who initiated the campaign explained that they hope it will help spark a broader conversation about preventing sexual assaults by teaching students more about consent. “The idea behind it was that there are conversations had about sexual assault on campus but there isn’t always space for discourse just about consent, or having a more positive constructive conversation about consent,” undergrad explained.

University of Notre Dame: Two years ago, the Department of Education investigated Notre Dame’s handling of sexual assault cases and recommended that the administration strengthen its policy for reporting and investigating these types of crimes on campus. Since then, the administration has worked to overhaul its system, and developed a student questionnaire to solicit more feedback about areas it can improve. At the end of last month, the results from that survey revealed that the majority of the student body understood how to navigate the new system for reporting sexual crimes, and 75 percent of students said they believed the administration handled rape cases “effectively and fairly.” Students did indicate that they want university officials to offer more education around consent.

The University of Maryland: This week, administrators at UMD agreed to explore a sexual assault awareness pilot program for all incoming freshmen, the first step toward implementing a proposal to require every incoming student to attend a mandatory workshop on the issue. Under the pilot, about 30 percent of next year’s incoming students would receive information about preventing sexual crimes. And earlier this month, the student senate voted to expand the university’s jurisdiction to address sexual violations — a move that could help ensure that rape victims whose assaults occur off campus can still access administrative resources.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the issue is anywhere close to resolved. Universities still have a long way to go to effectively eliminate the rape culture dynamics that often permeate their student disciplinary systems. A recent national survey conducted by the group Students Active For Ending Rape asked college students to grade their school’s sexual assault policies, and half of the respondents gave them a C or lower. A mere 9.8 percent of students gave their university an A for handling rape cases well.

Over the past several months, students and faculty on several college campuses have filed federal complaints with the U.S. Department of Education, alleging that their universities’ administrations have perpetrated rape culture by mishandling sexual assault cases. But university officials don’t always take those allegations very well. A University of North Carolina student was threatened with expulsion after speaking up about her own rape and criticizing her school’s inadequate sexual assault policy. At Occidental College, sexual violence prevention advocates claim that the administration retaliated against them after they began pushing for better policies on campus.

Perhaps that’s why federal officials found it necessary to remind university administrators that they shouldn’t take any steps to punish the people who bring issues of discrimination to the school’s attention. In a “Dear Colleague” letter distributed to universities last week, the U.S. Department of Education reiterated that students who allege civil rights violations — including enacting inadequate sexual assault policies that create a hostile environment for survivors on campus, as well as failing to accurately report sexual assault cases to the federal government — shouldn’t be afraid to speak out.

“Discriminatory practices are often only raised and remedied when students, parents, teachers, coaches, and others can report such practices to school administrators without the fear of retaliation,” Seth M. Galanter, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, wrote in the letter. “Individuals should be commended when they raise concerns about compliance with the federal civil rights laws, not punished for doing so.”

This does not represent a change from the federal government’s current policy, but rather a strong reminder for college administrations across the country. Galanter emphasized that the Department of Education will “vigorously enforce this prohibition against retaliation.”

Unfortunately, even when college students don’t go so far as to file a formal complaint with the U.S. government, they can still face serious backlash for speaking up against rape culture. Dartmouth College is currently threatening to discipline the students who disrupted campus activities last week to protest sexual assault. Elite colleges would often rather silence students and sweep issues of sexual assault under the rug in order to “keep up appearances.” The issue has reached a fever pitch recently, and campus activists have mobilized to demand change.

A group of Swarthmore students are filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against their Philadelphia-area college, alleging the elite private institution has been mishandling the sexual crimes that occur on campus. The students say that Swarthmore has violated federal law by failing to accurately report sexual assault cases, as well as by creating a hostile environment on campus where victims are discouraged from coming forward.

Two sophomores at the college, Mia Ferguson and Hope Brinn, filed the complaint along with other testimonials from 10 of their fellow students. They allege that Swarthmore officials have failed to report sexual crimes, intimidated the students and staff who complained about the persistent underreporting, and discouraged some rape victims from going to local law enforcement or initiating formal judicial processes on campus. They say that’s a clear violation of the Clery Act, which stipulates that colleges and universities must disclose crime statistics to the federal government each year.

Based on the recent concerns that students have raised about the college’s sexual assault policies, Swarthmore president Rebecca Chopp announced earlier this month that the administration would launch an external review of its current process for dealing with sexual crimes. But Brinn told Swarthmore’s student newspaper, the Daily Gazette, that the formal complaint is still a necessary step for students to take.

“We have a huge history of not complying with the law, and I think that needs to be addressed,” Brinn said. “We have 12 individuals coming forward, which demonstrates clearly a systemic issue that needs to be addressed with policy changes.”

Particularly at elite institutions, sexual assault is often something that administrators would rather sweep under the rug — largely in order to preserve the college’s reputation and ensure that prospective students won’t be dissuaded from attending. That’s why college campuses across the country are currently grappling with addressing rape culture. Many have recently made headlines amid reports of administrators mishandling sexual assault cases, protecting rapists’ grades and reputations rather than delivering justice for their victims, and punishing students who speak out against inadequate sexual assault policies.

Read more

In a campus-wide email sent out on Friday, Dartmouth College’s Board of Trustees Chair Steve Mandel appeared to equate the actions of sexual assault protesters with the subsequent death and rape threats made against them by several other Dartmouth students on anonymous online forums and message boards.

The threats materialized after students who allege that they have personally encountered sexual assault, homophobia, and racism on campus protested the Dartmouth administration’s inability to foster a safer environment during a prospective students’ event on April 19th. Dartmouth took the uncommon step of cancelling classes on Wednesday to address the growing crisis and the Board of Trustees released their latest email on Friday night as a follow up.

The email seeks to assure the student community that “established policies and procedures” regarding disciplinary action will be taken against both the protesters and any students who made the anonymous threats. It is reproduced in full below:

April 26, 2013
To the Dartmouth community:

As some of you know, a small group of students disrupted the Dimensions Welcome Show for prospective students on Friday, April 19, using it as a platform to protest what they say are incidents of racism, sexual assault, and homophobia on campus. Following the protest, threats of bodily harm and discriminatory comments targeting the protesters and their defenders ran anonymously on various sites on the Internet.

With tensions high across the Dartmouth community, Interim President Carol Folt, the Dean of the Faculty, and other senior leaders across campus agreed that the best course of action was to suspend classes on Wednesday, April 24, for a day of reflection and alternative educational programming. This decision was made to address not only the initial protest, but a precipitous decline in civility on campus over the last few months, at odds with Dartmouth’s Principles of Community.

This unusual and serious action to suspend classes for a day was prompted by concern that the dialogue on campus had reached a point that threatened to compromise the level of shared respect necessary for an academic community to thrive. The faculty and administration together determined that a pause to examine how the climate on campus can be improved was necessary. This was an important exercise that the Board supports. It is also important to note that there will be an opportunity for faculty to hold the classes that were missed as a result of Wednesday’s events.

Neither the disregard for the Dimensions Welcome Show nor the online threats that followed represent what we stand for as a community. As Interim President Folt indicated Wednesday in her remarks in front of Dartmouth Hall, the administration is following established policies and procedures with regard to any possible disciplinary action in both cases. As in every case regarding a disciplinary investigation, this process is confidential and respects the privacy of our students.

Dartmouth is not unique in the challenges it faces concerning campus climate and student life. We aspire to lead in responding to these challenges.

The Trustees and I are committed to addressing and supporting efforts necessary to resolve these issues, improving the campus climate and strengthening the institution. The Board’s Committee on Student Affairs is working with senior leaders and consulting with outside professionals to make progress on this front.

Please feel free to share your thoughts and questions with me at Stephen.F.Mandel.Jr.78@Dartmouth.edu

Best regards,

Steve Mandel ’78, P’09, P’11
Chair, Board of Trustees

Although the email was likely distributed to quell tensions, its blanket language lumping the actions of student protesters with those making threats of physical harm against them as equivalent “declines in civility” are more likely to inflame them. The missive also glosses over the relevant detail that many of the protesters weren’t just speaking out against “what they say” are incidents of sexual assault, racism, and homophobia on campus — they are actually victims of those very crimes and social ills. The website Real Talk Dartmouth has chronicled the events that inspired the initial protest, as well as the hateful comments that some Dartmouth students have made in its aftermath.

Some administrators and students are upset with the protest because it occurred during a prospective students’ event that has traditional significance for the college. But the protesters likely felt compelled to take that extraordinary action given the Dartmouth administration’s historical incompetence in dealing with issues of sexual assault, homophobia, and racism on campus.

Note: the author of this article graduated from Dartmouth College in 2012.