When the U.S. Education Department (ED) began publicly disclosing which institutions it was investigating for Title IX complaints in May 2014, the list was 55 schools long.

It now totals 124 colleges and universities, as well as 40 K-12 school systems and districts, according to the Huffington Post.

The University of Tennessee - Knoxville was the most highly publicized of the ED's recent additions, as the investigation centers on the school's athletic department, the Volunteers football team in particular. But the ED also recently opened investigations at New York University School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Oglethorpe University in Georgia.

Before May 2014, it was up to individual schools whether or not to confirm the ED's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) had opened a Title IX investigation. However, the ED began making such probes public to aid President Barack Obama's initiatives to curb campus sexual assault and offer survivors a resource for help.

Title IX is a federal gender equity law that criminalizes sexual discrimination, harassment, and assault. Recent data suggests one in every five females in college experience sexual assault in one way or another.

If a victim files a complaint with the school and the school does not conduct an adequate investigation, or does not issue a proper punishment for someone found responsible, the school is then in violation of Title IX. The ED may impose fines more than $10,000 per violation, though some lawmakers have proposed legislation to allow harsher punishments in such cases.

The ED is reportedly having trouble keeping up with all the Title IX complaints it is receiving since such issues became so highly publicized. The OCR has closed a number of investigations in the past year or so, but the department's backlog is only growing as some probes can last several years.

Catherine Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department, told the HP in May the department is "standing a bit in front of the fire hose."