The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has begun a fourth investigation to analyze UW-Madison’s handling of sexual assault cases.
According to a Wisconsin State Journal article, the investigation, which opened May 20, will determine whether UW-Madison has broken gender discrimination Title IX law in the handling of these cases. UW-Madison and federal officials have not specified what the investigations are looking into or how they started.
The first three UW-Madison investigations opened between February and May 2015 and remain incomplete. Only two universities have had more investigations opened by the Department of Education—Stanford University and Saint Mary’s College of Maryland each had five; Kansas State University and Princeton University had four, the same as UW-Madison.
According to the article, the Chronicle of Higher Education states that investigations such as this are opened due to complaints from students or a federal compliance review. The goal of these investigations is to reveal whether institutions are adequately addressing sexual violence on campus.
UW-Madison spokeswoman Meredith McGlone said the university is open to the investigation, according to the article.
“UW-Madison is dedicated to taking a broad array of steps to prevent sexual violence, hold perpetrators accountable and support survivors,” McGlone said in a statement. “The university’s approach to sexual violence is transparent, data-driven and constantly being improved. We welcome (the Office for Civil Rights’) review as an opportunity to improve and are cooperating with the investigation.”
