Research sponsored by the U.S. Justic Department estimates that 1 out of 5 college women will be sexually assaulted. National Public Radio and the Center for Public Integrity looked at the failure of schools – and the government agency that oversees them – to prevent these assaults and then to resolve the cases.
Campuses have reported a 9 percent drop in violent crime and a 30 percent drop in property crime over 10 years, but Security on Campus, Inc., founded by a couple whose daughter was killed at Lehigh University in 1986, complains that the U.S. Department of Education has fined schools just six times for violations. Between 1998 and 2008, the department ruled against just five universities out of 24 complaints, say records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the Center for Public Integrity.