By City News Service
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Student activists who say USC mishandles rape and sexual assault cases will unveil details today about their report that the federal government has opened a probe into their complaints.
Members of the Student Coalition Against Rape -- SCAR -- filed an equal opportunity complaint with the U.S. Department of Education last spring, claiming that the school grossly mishandles sexual assaults and rapes on its campus.
Similar complaints were filed against other universities, including Occidental College, UC Berkeley, Dartmouth, Swarthmore and Yale.
A SCAR spokeswoman said Saturday that federal officials had notified the organization that a probe had been opened. Details were to be released at a noon-hour news conference today outside the school's gates on Jefferson Boulevard.
USC spokesman Carl Marziala said Saturday he was not aware of the reported federal probe, but said a previous USC Division of Student Affairs statement on the issue addresses the complaint.
"USC takes all reports of sexual violence extremely seriously and had many resources available to assist students who experience unwanted sexual contact ...'' the statement said.
The school stated that "in all reported cases, we thoroughly investigate and take appropriate disciplinary, as well as interim remedial, action.''
But the USC statement warned "the university's disciplinary process cannot and does not take the place of the judicial system. Any student victim of a crime has the option of reporting it to the Los Angeles Police Department.''
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