Dive Brief:

• Recent alumnae have filed two federal complaints against Bard College for its handling of their sexual assault allegations and current students have filed a third, saying College President Leon Botstein has undercut their trust in Bard’s response structure.
• The Huffington Post reports that a complaint from a 2015 graduate says the college did not disclose her rights to a no-contact order or follow its own policies when it comes to sexual assault violations, though the college has since amended its policies to remove required minimum sanctions.
• The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights opened an investigation into the college on Dec. 30, citing a case in which the college ordered counseling and social probation for an accused student.

Dive Insight:

At the end of 2015, the DoE's Office of Civil Rights was investigating 159 colleges and universities for their handling of campus sexual assault. The issue has galvanized student activists and policy makers demanding higher education institutions provide a safe environment for women, as required by Title IX, the wide-ranging gender-based equity law that was first used to open sports for women.

Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act is sure to address collegiate responsibilities when it comes to campus safety. Many argue higher education institutions are fundamentally ill-equipped to handle sexual assault cases, where they have a level of responsibility for both the accused and the accuser. Victim advocates, however, argue the criminal justice system has not historically handled the burden well, either. They say the epidemic of campus rape is a civil rights issue that campuses must work to solve.