Dive Brief:

• Students and former students filed complaints last week against the University of California-Santa Barbara, the University of Michigan, the University of Toledo, and Valparaiso University Law School, accusing the schools of mishandling sexual assault cases.
• The complaints were filed with the U.S. Department of Education with help from the End Rape on Campus organization.
• Earlier this year, the co-founder of End Rape on Campus and 30 other current and former students at the University of California-Berkeley filed similar complaints against the university regarding sexual assault cases there.

Dive Insight:

In the University of Toledo case, a student claims she was assaulted in September 2013 and that her assailant admitted that she did not consent to sex, but received only disciplinary probation, a $25 fine, and 10 hours of sexual assault education, the Plain Dealer reports. The complaint says that ultimately, the rape was deemed not severe enough to warrant a more severe penalty because it was just “non-consensual sex,” according to a university Title IX inclusion officer.