California university sex assault policies are lacking, audit finds

Source: San Jose Mercury News

Faculty, staff and students at UC Berkeley and three other California universities are not well enough educated or trained to help students cope with sexual assault and do not respond to allegations quickly enough, according to a long-awaited state audit released Tuesday.

The California State Auditor recommended changing state law to require universities to better inform employees and incoming students about sexual harassment and violence and to provide training and information about policies.

But the auditors were unable to accurately tally the complaints of sexual harassment or violence on each campus, because campuses don't pull together all the reports from agencies such as housing offices, health and counseling centers, and police and student conduct panels, according to the audit.

Its findings about the four campuses -- UC Berkeley, UCLA, and the Cal State campuses at Chico and San Diego -- followed emotional testimony at hearings around the state where students asserted that campus officials were not responsive enough to their allegations and took too long to investigate and punish attackers. Students often report suspected assaults to campus administrators, either in addition to or instead of filing complaints with law enforcement, and the handling of those reports has become the subject of nationwide controversy.

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_26026499/sex-assault-policies-at-california-universities-lacking-audit