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Thursday, May 1, 2014
Audit not Random: Feds Target UH Manoa in Sexual Violence Investigation
By News Release @ 3:34 PM :: 6294 Views :: Higher Education, Law Enforcement

Title IX sexual harassment audit taking place at UH Manoa

HNN April 28, 2014: ...auditors from the federal government are at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa this week to make sure the campus is in compliance with Title IX obligations.

"This is not triggered by some event.  This is a random audit, if you will, and the idea is to help us make our campus safer, particularly for women, but also for all of our students," UH Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple said....

(But, according to the Feds, Apple's 'random audit' story is bunk.  See below....)

read ... The Cover Story

  *   *   *   *   *

U.S. Department of Education Releases List of Higher Education Institutions with Open Title IX Sexual Violence Investigations

News Release from US Department of Education, May 1, 2014

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released today a list of the higher education institutions under investigation for possible violations of federal law over the handling of sexual violence and harassment complaints.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in all education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. In the past, Department officials confirmed individual Title IX investigations at institutions, but today's list is the first comprehensive look at which campuses are under review by OCR for possible violations of the law's requirements around sexual violence.

"We are making this list available in an effort to bring more transparency to our enforcement work and to foster better public awareness of civil rights," Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon said. "We hope this increased transparency will spur community dialogue about this important issue. I also want to make it clear that a college or university's appearance on this list and being the subject of a Title IX investigation in no way indicates at this stage that the college or university is violating or has violated the law."

As with all OCR investigations, the primary goal of a Title IX investigation is to ensure that the campus is in compliance with federal law, which demands that students are not denied the ability to participate fully in educational and other opportunities due to sex.

The Department will not disclose any case-specific facts or details about the institutions under investigation. The list includes investigations opened because of complaints received by OCR and those initiated by OCR as compliance reviews. When an investigation concludes, the Department will disclose, upon request, whether OCR has entered into a resolution agreement to address compliance concerns at a particular campus or found insufficient evidence of a Title IX violation there.

The list of institutions under investigation for Title IX sexual violence issues will be updated regularly and made available to the public upon request by contacting OCR or to media by contacting the Press Office at press@ed.gov.

Releasing this list advances a key goal of President Obama's White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault to bring more transparency to the federal government's enforcement activities around this issue. The Obama administration is committed to putting an end to sexual violence—particularly on college campuses. That's why the President established the Task Force earlier this year with a mandate to strengthen federal enforcement efforts and provide schools with additional tools to combat sexual assault on their campuses.

As part of that work, the Education Department released updated guidance earlier this week describing the responsibilities of colleges, universities and schools receiving federal funds to address sexual violence and other forms of sex discrimination under Title IX. The guidelines provide greater clarity about the requirements of the law around sexual violence—as requested by institutions and students.

All colleges, and universities and K-12 schools receiving federal funds must comply with Title IX. Schools that violate the law and refuse to address the problems identified by OCR can lose federal funding or be referred to the U.S. Department of Justice for further action.

Under federal law, sexual violence refers to physical sexual acts perpetrated against a person's will or where a person is incapable of giving consent -- including rape, sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual abuse and sexual coercion.

OCR's mission is to ensure equal access to education and promote educational excellence throughout the nation through the vigorous enforcement of civil rights. OCR is responsible for enforcing federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination by educational institutions on the basis of disability, race, color, national origin, sex, and age, as well as the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act of 2001. Additional information about the office is available at http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html.

This list reflects investigations open as of May 1, 2014. Schools are listed alphabetically by state.

State, Institution

AZ Arizona State University

CA Butte-Glen Community College District

CA Occidental College

CA University of California-Berkeley

CA University of Southern California

CO Regis University

CO University of Colorado at Boulder

CO University of Colorado at Denver

CO University of Denver

CT University of Connecticut

DC Catholic University of America

FL Florida State University

GA Emory University

HI University of Hawaii at Manoa

ID University of Idaho

IL Knox College

IL University of Chicago

IN Indiana University-Bloomington

IN Vincennes University

MA Amherst College

MA Boston University

MA Emerson College

MA Harvard College

MA Harvard University—Law School

MA University of Massachusetts-Amherst

MD Frostburg State University

MI Michigan State University

MI University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

NC Guilford College

NC University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

ND Minot State University

NH Dartmouth College

NJ Princeton University

NY Cuny Hunter College

NY Hobart and William Smith Colleges

NY Sarah Lawrence College

NY Suny at Binghamton

OH Denison University

OH Ohio State University

OH Wittenberg University

OK Oklahoma State University

PA Carnegie Mellon University

PA Franklin and Marshall College

PA Pennsylvania State University

PA Swarthmore College

PA Temple University

TN Vanderbilt University

TX Southern Methodist University

TX The University of Texas-Pan American

VA College of William and Mary

VA University of Virginia

WA Washington State University

WI University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

WV Bethany College

WV West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine

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