Yale Faces $100K+ Punishment for Underreporting Sexual Assaults

The U.S. Education Department wants Yale to pay $165,000 for underreporting sexual assaults over a decade ago. The university says it doesn’t wanna, because it’s transformed into a post-sexist utopia since then. (Debatable.)

The government says Yale violated the Clery Act — which mandates that colleges publicly disclose crime and safety data — numerous times in 2001 and 2002, according to a letter the DOE sent university President Richard Levin on April 19 (via Businessweek). The fine includes $27,500 for four unreported sex crimes.

“This is a serious violation because current and prospective students/employees must be able to rely on accurate and complete crime information,” Mary Gust, director of the department’s Administrative Actions and Appeals Service Group, said in the letter. Indeed!

But Yale says that fine is unfair, “based on the particular situations that resulted in findings of violations,” according to Tom Conroy, a university spokesman, who added that the DOE has admitted the school has corrected its reporting processes over the past decade. But the administration doesn’t quite deserve any gold stars yet: the college is currently being monitored through next year for compliance with Title IX, and agreed to take a number of steps to get better at handling allegations of sexual misconduct on campus.

The university appealed and asked for the fine to be reduced. We wonder how ignored rape survivor alums who paid way more than $165,000 to attend Yale feel about that.