Editorial: Wake-up call on assaults

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who in recent years has focused on sexual assault in the military, commissioned an in-depth survey of sexual assault complaints at 440 four-year colleges. It examined policies for investigating assault reports, as well as whether institutions properly train faculty and staff to work with local law enforcement.

On Wednesday, McCaskill released survey findings showing that a dismaying number of schools are failing to protect their students. More than 40 percent reported that they hadn’t conducted a single investigation on sexual assaults in the past five years, despite a federal law requiring that every case be promptly investigated.

The survey found that many schools failed to encourage students to report assaults, and did not provide training for students, faculty and staff on how to respond to complaints.

An appalling 22 percent of schools surveyed allow their athletic departments to oversee sexual violence complaints involving student athletes. As McCaskill noted, “You cannot expect the athletic department, which is in charge of giving scholarships, or depends on the athletic prowess of young men or women, that they will be fair, or at least have the appearance of being fair.”

Only 51 percent of institutions had a hotline for students who have been assaulted, and only 44 percent provided online reporting.

More than 40 percent of the largest public schools responding to the survey allow students to help adjudicate sexual assault cases — a practice that McCaskill, a former sex crime prosecutor, noted is “rife” with potential legal and procedural problems.

McCaskill plans to use the survey results to craft legislation that would require schools to improve their handling of sexual assaults. Meanwhile, the Obama administration has stepped up federal oversight of colleges, and 60 schools are being investigated for possible violations of the 1972 antidiscrimination law known as Title IX related to their handling of sexual assault complaints.

McCaskill’s survey represents a promising step in what must be a broad-based approach to reducing the number of sexual assaults on campuses, improving how complaints are investigated and resolved, ensuring that assailants are brought to justice and making certain that victims receive the help they need and deserve.