LOS ANGELES, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Occidental College, a small liberal arts school in California, has drastically under-reported sexual assault complaints made by female students, officials said.
The school's lawyer has stepped down and longtime dean of students Barbara Avery has been on the defensive, since an uproar began in October, after the school acknowledged it had failed to make public 24 sexual assault cases reported in 2010 and 2011.
Under federal Title IX anti-discrimination legislation, colleges are required to report instances of sexual assault to the federal Department of Education, which publishes the data for current and prospective students to access.
Despite the admission in October, an investigation by the Los Angeles Times found evidence another 27 sexual assault cases went unreported in 2012 -- more than doubling the number previously known.
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Furthermore, the Times said, the school's dean, whose job it is to handle sexual assault cases involving students, regularly tried to talk victims out of filing reports and ignored an untold number of anonymous reports made through an online forum meant to increase reporting of sexual misconduct.
At one point, a student who said she was raped while attending a party at a fraternity on campus said she spoke to Avery. A member of Avery's staff spoke to the girl in response and made veiled threats, including asking the woman, "Are you sure you really want to go through with this?"
Associate Dean of Students Erica O'Neal Howard told the student, "it is a really long and hard process, and it may cause you more pain and suffering."
In response to the allegations, general counsel Carl Botterud tried to organize a group of male athletes at the school to combat the voices critical of the school's handling of sexual misconduct cases.
Athletes who were made to attend a meeting with Botterud told the Times he used crude language and, though the group was to be called Occidental Men Against Rape, at no point did he discuss ways to reduce sexual violence on campus.
"If the activists make you feel like your voice doesn't count, [expletive] 'em," two people who attended the meeting recall Botterud saying.
"I remember being confused why he was leading the meeting," recalled one student who attended. "He never said anything about being passionate about doing something about sexual assault."
The faculty voted overwhelmingly in May to express their lack of confidence in Avery and Botterud, the latter of whom resigned over the summer.
School officials declined to speak about specific allegations of sexual assault but acknowledged reporting of all incidents needs to improve.
"Given the two investigations currently under way by the Department of Education, we believe our students will be best served by the conclusions reached through these comprehensive, thorough, and public reviews," spokesman James Tranquada said in a statement. "In the meantime, Occidental continues to move ahead with its efforts to improve its policies and procedures to ensure the College is a national leader in dealing with sexual misconduct."
