"A Washington-based investigative journalism organization said in a report issued Tuesday that it found a 'culture of secrecy' surrounding sexual assault cases on university campuses across the U.S.
The report by the Center for Public Integrity showed that nearly half of the 33 female students it interviewed in the past year about being raped were unsuccessful in pursuing criminal charges."
That left the campus judiciary system as their only recourse. But victims who take that route "face proceedings that are shrouded in secrecy, where they encounter mysterious disciplinary proceedings, where they themselves are shut out of the hearing process," Kristen Lombardi, lead reporter on the nine-month investigation, said during a news conference broadcast Tuesday.
Nearly a third of the 33 victims said school administrators discouraged them from pursuing complaints, and about a dozen experienced confidentiality requirements "sometimes followed by threats of punishment if they were to disclose any information about the case," Lombardi said.
