Twenty-three students have signed on to three separate complaints, each alleging violations of a different federal law, against Columbia University and the affiliated Barnard College, The New York Times reported.
Among other allegations in the complaints, filed with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, students say that administrators wrongly tell those who file assault claims that they must not discuss their cases outside the confines of the campus disciplinary process, that disciplinary proceedings are handled by people ill-trained for the job, and that accusers are given less leeway than are the accused.
Like similar complaints that have been lodged against other institutions recently, the complaints accuse Columbia and Barnard of violating the Clery Act, a federal law requiring public disclosure of campus crime statistics, and the Higher Education Act. In an unusual strategy, they also allege violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act, based on treatment of assault survivors with emotional trauma.
Columbia officials said they had not seen the complaints and could not comment on them. The university pledged earlier this year to overhaul its handling of sexual misconduct, and it said on Thursday that reform efforts were still under way.
The Obama administration has taken several steps recently to increase federal oversight of colleges’ responses to campus sexual-assault issues.
