FSU Under Investigation for Possible Title IX Violation

Frostburg State University (FSU) is on a list of 55 universities being investigated for a Title IX violation over the handling of sexual assault and harassment complaints.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released the list on Thursday, May 1, 2014. FSU is the only university from the University System of Maryland on the list.

The university released a statement that said: “Frostburg State University has cooperated fully with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. However, federal law prevents FSU from publicly commenting on any details pending the outcome of OCR’s review.  FSU is aware that the review is a result of a complaint filed with OCR related to an off-campus incident which was adjudicated by the University in 2013.

Frostburg State University recognizes the severity of the issue of sexual assault, and strives continuously to improve our policies and processes to prevent sexual assault, address the needs of the victims, and redress the responsible parties. The University meets many of the recommendations contained in the report of The White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault and will implement recommendations from OCR and other sources as they become available in order to achieve the highest level of safety for our students, employees and visitors.”

The list was reported as a result of the Obama administration’s push to raise awareness of sexual assaults on campus. The administration recently created the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault to combat this issue. According to a recent report released by this task force, the task force aims to prevent sexual assault and to improve enforcement of sexual assaults on university campuses. Increasing the transparency of these issues is another goal of this task force.

The report states, “The government is committed to making our enforcement efforts more transparent—and getting students and schools more resources to bring an end to this violence. As part of this effort, we will post enforcement data on our website—NotAlone.gov—and give students a roadmap for filing a complaint if they think their school has not lived up to its obligations.”

UPDATE: This investigation began after an FSU alumna filed a complaint to the  United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.