The federal government is investigating 55 colleges around the country as part of a new initiative to prevent sexual assaults on university campuses. The colleges—which are being investigated under the Title IX law—range from large public schools, Ivy League universities, private colleges and even some religious institutions. Though the Education Department emphasized that a presence on the list of schools being investigated insinuates “absolutely zero presumption” of guilt, several of the schools were involved in high profile incidents of alleged mishandlings of campus rape cases that triggered the federal investigation.
According to the White House, as many as 20 percent of all college females are victims of sexual assault. The Obama administration has also created a new task force to review complaints and provide resources to victims, like the newly-launched notalone.gov. At a press event, Education Secretary Are Duncan said, “In terms of what’s morally right there, the moral compass, whatever we can do to have fewer young women and young men having to go through these types of horrific incidents, we want to do that” …
