Legislature To Investigate Sexual Assault Complaints At UC Berkeley, Other Campuses
SACRAMENTO (CBS/AP) - Lawmakers have ordered an audit of the University of California, Berkeley and three other state college campuses after complaints that sexual assault allegations were ignored.
Nine current and former UC Berkeley students have filed a federal complaint about campus compliance with provisions of Title IX that require specific steps be taken in cases of sexual assault.
"I was not notified until seven months after I filed a report with the Center for Student Conduct that there had ever been an investigation into my assault," said Sofie Karasek, one of the students behind the complaint.
Legislature To Investigate Sexual Assault Complaints At UC Berkeley, Other State Universities
Karasek and other women testified before a state Senate committee Wednesday that they reported sexual assaults to campus authorities but either got no response or were met with skepticism.
When said Karasek tried to follow up, she said she received several terse e-mails confirming a male student admitted to the assault and had been found in violation of Cal's student code of conduct for the February 2012 incident.
Those e-mails, according to Karasek, "only said that the case had been resolved through an early resolution process."
The audit authorized Wednesday will examine how the campuses report sexual assaults and whether students are discouraged from reporting them.
Besides UC Berkeley, sexual assault investigations will also be reviewed at another UC campus that was not identified, and two California State University campuses to be chosen later.
Representatives of both systems told the Joint Legislative Audit Committee they would cooperate fully.
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