The University of Southern California has been under investigation by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for mishandling rape cases  since July 2013.  The OCR is investigating whether USC's policies violated Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in programs that receive federal financial assistance. 

When contacted, the OCR confirmed that they were investigating USC, but would not give a date that the investigation would be finished.

The OCR has investigated many schools for mishandling sexual assault cases. Schools found to be in non-compliance can lose federal funds. So far, however, no school has lost federal funding. 

West Contra Costa Unified School District, in California, is one school to have been found non-compliant, and has since agreed to a resolution agreement with the OCR. Other schools have entered into voluntary resolution agreements with the OCR, according to Think Progress.

A resolution agreement is a settlement where a university agrees to take actions in return for being found in compliance with Title IX. In these binding agreements, the schools outline specific steps they will take, a timetable for implementing them and reporting requirements to verify their implementation, reports The Fire.

For example, the resolution agreement between the OCR and the University of Montana in 2013 dictated that the school had to "take effective steps designed to: prevent sex-based harassment in its education program and activities including clarifying its policies and procedures."

The school had to revise many policies, the student disciplinary code, implement five training courses, have an annual campus climate survey, develop a system for tracking reports of harassment, submit annual reports to the Department of Education and submit policy revisions to the government for approval. 

READ MORE: A Timeline of Sexual Assault At USC

Alexa Schwartz, one of the students who filed the complaint at USC, said she is glad she did because it led to students at other schools doing the same. Still, Schwartz said changes need to start at USC and soon.

"I would like survivors to feel comfortable coming forward and hearing that the process is not isolating," she said. 

To do this, Schwartz suggests hiring a third party not affiliated with the school to investigate sexual assault. This, she argued, would allow the process to take place without the investigator being concerned about hurting the school's reputation. 

Schwartz thinks that it is not just the university administration that needs to change, but also "a culture change that needs to happen" involving "the leaders in the frats and student body too."

While Schwartz agrees that USC could do more with alcohol education, she does not think alcohol is the only problem.

"What's really frustrating is that people think that if we remove alcohol the problem will go away, but it won't and is just another way of blaming survivors," Schwartz said.

She argued that many use the fact that a female was drunk to blame her for being sexually assaulted. 

Still, she argued that both alcohol and bystander education should occur more often at USC. 

The University of New Hampshire has "Bringing in the Bystander," a bystander education program. Colleges that have bystander education programs aim to teach students that as bystanders they can sometimes prevent assault. 

"The (USC) administration is so quiet and they need to be more constant and upfront with their information," she said. "They should outline forms of rape and policies, or what to do if a rape occurs."

Schwartz is part of the Safer Campus Initiative, a group working on policy issues with the USC administration.

 

 

Reach Deputy Editor Hannah Madans here.