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Abstract: 

Senator Claire McCaskill, Chair of the U.S. Subcommittee on Financial Oversight, instructed her staff to prepare a report asessing how colleges and universities report, investigate, and adjudicate sexual violence. Over 400 four-year higher education institutions were surveyed nationwide. This article closely examines the results of the subcommittee investigation and report, which suggest that a great many institutions are failing to comply with both the law and best practices in handling student sexual violence. The results show problems at every stage of an institution’s response to a student’s complaint of sexual violence. 41% of schools nationally report not having conducted a single investigation in the past five years.

Keywords: Clery Act; Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972; 24-hour hotline; law enforcement officials; Sexual Assault Response Teams; effective penalties to hold perpetrators accountable

Affiliations:  1: Co-Editor; 2: Co-Editor.