Feds add Grinnell to probes of sex assault cases

Federal officials confirmed on Tuesday that Grinnell College is being investigated for its handling of sexual assault cases.

The private liberal arts college of 1,600 students joins the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and Drake University, as well as 124 other schools across the country, to be part of probes by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

The federal investigations are supposed to be completed in 180 days. But because of the huge spike nationally in complaints, the average time has stretched to about four years, said Jim Reische, Grinnell’s vice president for communications. In the meantime, he said, the school will continue to address the issues raised.

“We’re not resting at all,” Reische said. “There’s an extensive period of document production for the OCR. That’s a ton of work. And we continue to look at policies and practices and … advance the work we do with prevention.”

MORE: Reports of sexual assault up at Grinnell

Six complaints triggered the Grinnell investigation. Among them: that school administrators gave lax sanctions to men accused of sexual assault. In three cases reported by the Huffington Post on March 4, women said they were forced to continue attending classes with their alleged assailants.

One of the three women stayed on campus. One eventually transferred. One was told she could not return, but her alleged assailant was allowed to return, the Huffington Post reported.

The latest investigation underscores the difficulties schools face with balancing the rights of both alleged victims and assailants in such cases, as well as the tension between school administrators and a widening network of advocacy surrounding sexual assault victims.

Iowa State University and the University of Iowa waited months to acknowledge they were under federal scrutiny, but Grinnell officials requested a federal investigation just before the Huffington Post story broke.

The Civil Rights office commended the college “for its commitment to ensuring that all students have the opportunity to learn in an environment free from sexual violence.”

But a group called Dissenting Voices said students, faculty, two statewide coalitions against sexual assault, and other organizations had already asked the Department of Education to review Grinnell’s practices “after years of betraying survivors.”

“It came after nearly three years of struggling with Grinnell administrators to provide stronger sanctions for rapists, and to provide support for survivors suffering from the trauma of sexual violence,” the group said in a statement this spring. “Instead, most Grinnell students found responsible for sexual assault end up back on campus, some in the same classes as their survivors. This causes lingering trauma for survivors, many of whom have left Grinnell because of it. While Grinnell administrators have made some excellent policy changes … these changes do not address the core problems brought up in the Title IX complaint.”

In the case most detailed in the Huffington Post’s report, a female student alleged school administrators had her go through a mediation session with the student who raped and threatened her, a practice the U.S. Department of Education had explicitly prohibited. The accused attacker was ultimately found responsible for disorderly conduct and psychological harm instead of sexual misconduct, even though his victim provided text messages and photos of deep bruising.

But Riesche said the aftermath of the Huffington Post report only underscored for the school that such cases cannot be tried in the court of public opinion.

“There’s so much information that is confidential and can’t be shared,” he said.

Four years ago, the Civil Rights office sent a letter to colleges across the country, guiding them in their responsibilities regarding sexual harassment and misconduct under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination in educational activities. It underscored that schools were required to take immediate action to eliminate harassment, including sexual violence, and prevent its recurrence.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than 75 percent of women who report rape were under 25 years old at the time. A year-long investigation by the Center for Public Integrity found that students deemed “responsible” for sexual assaults on campus often face little or no punishment from school judicial systems, while their victims’ lives are frequently turned upside down.

The crimes also are woefully underreported.

Grinnell now prohibits mediation sessions between alleged victims and perpetrators, and it follows federal law and moves those found responsible for sexual misconduct out of the classroom. But the school, like others, is required to provide equal access to education to students who aren’t found responsible for misconduct or those who have been disciplined and returned to school with no further problems.

“We try to support the victim-survivor and not define their experience for them. They need to be heard and believed. But according to Title IX, we can’t limit the educational experience of our students,” said Angela Voos, the college’s Title IX coordinator.

Voos said the large number of schools now being investigated reflects the challenges colleges face in handling the cases fairly and “the attention that the White House is putting on institutions to create more of a culture of reporting, and responses that are fair and equitable and take care of victim-survivors.”

The most challenging issue for Grinnell is preventing sexual assaults — through bystander intervention and “really inculcating a community spirit to interrupt things that look dangerous.”

She also said students need more education about healthy relationships before they get to college.

Voos said the school also wants to stress that the school will go with students to police if they want to report the crimes to law enforcement.