The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday announced it had opened multiple investigations into how local authorities and school officials handled a series of recent sexual assault allegations at the University of Montana. The adjudication of sexual assault cases on college campuses was the subject of a series of stories by the Center for Public Integrity.

Questions involving the handling of sexual assault cases have engulfed the university and its hometown of Missoula since late last year, when the school announced it had hired an outside investigator to look into allegations that two university students were drugged and gang-raped in December. That probe eventually grew to include other cases; the Justice Department said that at least 11 reported sexual assaults involving UM students had occurred in an 18-month period. The university faced criticism for how it handled the cases, as did the Missoula Police department and the county attorney. Several of the cases involve allegations against players for the school’s popular and successful football team, the Grizzlies. The university fired the school’s athletic director and head football coach in late March.

Nearly 2,600 sexual assaults were reported to the Pentagon last year, but the office in charge of overseeing investigations of these assaults has failed to live up to its duty, according to the Government Accountability Office.

In 2006, the Defense Department put measures to prevent sexual assault into place, and an inspector general was put in charge of oversight. So far, the GAO investigation found, “The inspector general’s office has not performed these responsibilities, primarily because it believes it has other, higher priorities."

If this continues, the accountability office warned, the IG "will remain limited in its ability to help ensure consistency and accountability."

The report highlights the longstanding issue of justice in sexual assault cases, which both the military and college campuses have struggled with in recent years. As an iWatch News investigation showed, sexual assaults often happen without consequence because of poor policies at the highest levels.

In a response, the inspector general's office said it agreed with the recommendations and would make GAO’s recommended changes for fiscal year 2012. Reported sexual assaults were actually down in fiscal 2010, from 3,230 a year earlier.

The IG office did not accept that it had failed to live up to its mission.

"We disagree with the characterization that the DoD IG has not performed its responsibilities," said Inspector General Gordon Heddell in a statement emailed to iWatch News. "We've addressed the important issue of combatting sexual assault with the most senior officials in the Department and together expect to make progress in addressing this issue."

The sexual assault expert hired by Reed College last year has submitted his resignation with the elite private college still embroiled in turmoil over its sexual assault policies, a set of disciplinary procedures that the college itself recently determined were partially out of compliance with federal law.

With Reed faculty joining their voices to a mounting student campaign for change, the college has already made changes in its polices to meet federal legal requirements. Kevin Myers, director of strategic communications for
Reed, said additional policy changes are on the way. Some of those changes were announced to students Wednesday.

The sometimes fierce debate on campus has caused clashes between students and administrators, provoked alumni, spurred graffiti and flyers on campus, and prompted guerilla theater in the college dining room. Though the college hired a sexual assault expert last year, in part to help navigate reforms underway since August 31, the expert, Pete Meagher, has told the college he is leaving May 31, with changes still pending.

Fifty-eight percent of Reed College students signed a petition urging policy reform, presented to the college president, board of trustees and faculty and student governments April 22. Faculty also submitted a petition, saying the college may be inadvertently harming sexual assault victims through its policies, and some student victims and advocates think Reed is violating federal law.

The Center for Public Integrity and NPR have received a prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for the story “Seeking Justice for Campus Rapes.”  

The Center’s 12-month investigation with NPR showed that students who have been the victim of sexual assaults on campus face a depressing array of barriers that often assure their silence or leave them feeling victimized a second time. Meanwhile, students found responsible for alleged sexual assaults on campuses can face little or no punishment and go on to graduate, as colleges and universities ignore the problem.

“This was a meaningful and powerful investigation,” said Center Executive Director William E. Buzenberg. “The Center for Public Integrity is delighted to have collaborated with an excellent team from NPR in exposing a deeply troubling fact of life on too many campuses across the country. We know that as many as 50 million Americans read, saw or heard these compelling stories.”  

The NPR series was reported by correspondent Joseph Shapiro, who worked in collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity’s lead project reporter, Kristen Lombardi. NPR’s investigative team included Robert Benincasa and Susanne Reber; the Center’s team included Gordon Witkin, David Donald, and Kristin Jones.

“I’m pleased the story has had such a clear impact on public policy,” said Lombardi.  “It spurred congressional action on Capitol Hill and led the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen its oversight of how colleges and universities handle campus rape cases.”

The Obama administration took new steps yesterday to address one of the most common crimes on college campuses: sexual assault. Speaking at the University of New Hampshire, a school known for its proactive approach to combating sexual violence, Vice-President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan unveiled the first-ever explicit federal guidance on how colleges and universities must respond to student complaints of campus sexual assault.

In strongly worded remarks before a crowd of school administrators, victim advocates, and students, Duncan said he is troubled by the way some colleges and universities have been handling cases of sexual violence.

“The misplaced sense of values and priorities in some of these cases is staggering,” Duncan said. “As caring adults, as parents, and leaders we must deal with the brutal truth and the facts around these incidents can be shocking.”