Yale University released its first sexual misconduct report Tuesday, describing sexual harassment complaints that have been made on campus from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2011 and how these situations have been handled, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. The 52 confidential cases listed include allegations made by students or employees. The report provides transparency in the university's handling of sexual misconduct incidents, especially following criticism of how the university responded to allegations against Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, which was suspended for five years due to public cases of sexual harassment, The Times reported. Yale's report found that the majority of people who are sexually assaulted do not report it to the appropriate authorities. Most of the cases filed in the report were resolved prior to police involvement and ended with little to no investigation, according to The Times.
Eight law firms, located in Chicago, New York and San Francisco, have filed 12 new lawsuits on behalf of students against law schools drawing students with promises of job offers after graduation, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported Thursday. Law students graduating with large amounts of debt and limited job prospects are suing their law schools for lying about job placement and salary statistics, according to The Chronicle. The eight firms supporting the students said they plan to file 20 to 25 new lawsuits every few months on behalf of 51 graduates seeking class-action status. These lawsuits target schools in New York, California and Illinois, including California Western School of Law, John Marshall School of Law and Hofstra Law School. Many of the institutions assert that students have the responsibility to understand economic realities and have said their statistics are not misleading, The Chronicle reported.
According to Senate and House of Representatives records, Harvard University's Office of Federal Relations spent $510,000 on lobbying Congress in 2011, The Harvard Crimson reported. This money was used to lobby Congress regarding legislation including the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act; Stop Online Privacy Act; and the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act. Harvard President Drew Faust has supported the DREAM Act since 2009 and said the bill deserves the most lobbying time and money from the university, The Crimson reported. The university also spent $120,000 employing Washington law firm O'Neill, Athy & Casey to aid the lobbying process, The Crimson reported. Harvard's expenditures on lobbying marked the second-highest amount in the Ivy League this year, as only Yale University spent more, according to The Crimson.
