California's Joint Legislative Audit Committee unanimously approved a review of four college campuses and their policies and reporting of sexual assault, the Huffington Post reported.
The committee ok'd the request, drafted by Assemblyman Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood), Wednesday to review the University of California (UC)-Berkley and three other schools. The other schools are another UC campus and two unknown California State Universities.
The audit request is the first legislative action during a time where numerous public and private schools around the nation are being investigated for their reporting and policies on sexual misconduct.
In May, students from UC-Berkley filed a Clery complaint, alleging their school had not properly reported their sexual assault. The Clery Act requires schools to file sexual misconduct complaints and report them to the proper authorities in a timely manner.
"These incidents are terrible and shouldn't be tolerated," Rendon told The Huffington Post, "but the reaction, or lack of reaction on behalf of campus officials, was just something that was just as reprehensible."
Administrators from both UC and CSU schools said, if their school is investigated, they would cooperate entirely.
"We are prepared to fully address, respond to, and make any and all changes necessary to address the concerns expressed here," said Linda Williams, associate chancellor for UC-Berkeley.
Sofie Karasek was among the UC-Berkley students to file the Clery complaint and she testified at the audit hearing. She said her assailant assaulted her in Feb. 2012, but she learned the man had gone on to attack three other women.
"I wasn't notified until seven months after I filed a report with the Center for Student Conduct that there had ever been an investigation into my assault," Karasek testified. "Last fall, I found out from a friend that my assailant had admitted to sexually assaulting me."
Karasek said she followed up on her complaint and was told the attacker was charged with breaking the student conduct code. The assailant remained on campus and graduated as expected and Karasek never knew if he was punished at all or not.
"I am so disappointed in my administration's handling of sexual violence, and I am so worried for my friends' safety," said Haley Broder, a UC-Berkeley student, in her testimony at the hearing.
California state auditor Elaine Howle said the process of audit of Title IX, the federal gender equality law, would take six months. Lawmakers voted unanimously to prioritize the audit.
