Fifteen Title IX complaints filed against Penn since 2002

Fifteen Title IX complaints have been filed against Penn since 2002, although federal officials did not find against the University in any of the cases, according to recently released data.

The data was obtained by the Harvard Crimson through a Freedom of Information Act request and published Tuesday night. According to the Crimson’s database, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found that seven of the complaints filed against Penn lacked sufficient detail to find that Penn had discriminated against someone because of their gender and one allegation lacked sufficient evidence.

The most recent allegation against Penn was filed on Jan. 13, 2014, and was resolved on March 6, 2014. The Office for Civil Rights determined that the “allegation lack[ed] sufficient detail to infer discrimination,” according to the data.

While Title IX was initially focused on ensuring equitable resources for women’s sports, recent guidelines from the Office for Civil Rights mandate that colleges and universities must investigate and adjudicate alleged instances of sexual violence to comply with the law.

In May, the Office for Civil Rights released a list of universities being investigated for their handling of sexual violence and harassment claims. While Penn was not on that list, 55 schools — including Harvard, Princeton and Dartmouth — were listed as under investigation.

Two weeks ago, the OCR announced that it had reached an agreement with Princeton after an investigation found that the university violated Title IX.

The Crimson obtained records of over 7,500 complaints received and closed by the Office for Civil Rights between 2002 and Sept. 22, 2014.

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