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Feds open a new sexual violence investigation at U-Va.

July 28, 2016 at 2:11 p.m. EDT
Students pass through the Lawn at the University of Virginia. (Norm Shafer/for The Washington Post)

The federal government has opened a new civil rights investigation related to sexual violence issues at the University of Virginia, officials disclosed Wednesday. It is the second such probe to occur at U-Va. within the past five years.

U-Va. is now one of 202 colleges and universities nationwide facing a sexual violence inquiry under the federal anti-discrimination law known as Title IX. The Education Department said its Office for Civil Rights, or OCR, opened the case Friday.

Dorie Nolt, an Education Department spokeswoman, said in a statement that OCR “opened a Title IX sexual violence investigation at UVA on July 22, 2016. This investigation involves facts that were not covered as part of OCR’s previous investigation at the University (resolved on September 21, 2015). OCR cannot provide case-specific information on cases currently under investigation.”

No further details on the investigation were available from federal officials.

U-Va. said in a statement Thursday: “The university is aware that a former male student has filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights alleging he was discriminated against in the Title IX investigation process based on his gender and disability. The university will cooperate fully with OCR.”

Other schools under investigation include elite institutions, such as Stanford University and Harvard College, as well as a range of public and private colleges.

Last year, OCR ended a lengthy investigation of sexual violence issues at U-Va. that began in 2011. Federal investigators concluded in that case that the university had violated federal rules on sexual violence issues several times in recent years, failing to provide “prompt and equitable” responses to allegations of sexual assault.

When that probe ended, U-Va. pledged numerous steps to prevent sexual violence and improve case handling.

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