Students and faculty of a school under investigation for its response to sexual assault have accused the administration of tracking anonymous reports.

Two students who wished to remain unnamed told the Huffington Post they were each contacted for a meeting with Occidental College's Title IX coordinator, Lauren Carella. Both students said they filed out the anonymous sexual assault report form and did not know how Carella got in contact with them.

Danielle Dirks, a sociology professor at Occidental, and Caroline Heldman, chair of the school's politics department, said the two students, both survivors of sexual assault, and one faculty member were called for meetings after using the form.

Dirks and Heldman said their intention is not to discourage victims from reporting their crime, but to hold the school accountable. Since Occidental is one of several schools under federal investigation for their response practices to sexual assault claims, some victims, at any school, may not want to identify themselves to their school.

"The reason [sexual assault survivors] are using the anonymous reporting form is because they're not convinced they want to be interfacing with the school," Dirks said. "They worry it may be retraumatizing."

One of the students said she agreed to the meeting with Carella to find out how the school learned of her report. The victim assumed a close friend went against her wishes and told a school administrator, but Carella would not disclose how she found out.

Dirks, Heldman and 35 other students, faculty and alumni filed a complaint with the U.S. Education Department's Office of Civil Rights and the investigation is currently underway. The complaint alleges the school violated the Clery Act by not being completely transparent with all campus crimes. It also alleges the school violated the federal gender equity Title IX law by not properly punishing those found guilty of sexual assault and that administrators mishandled initial reports.

Carella did not respond for comment, but Occidental spokesman James Tranquada said the school does not make any effort to identify the source of an anonymous report. Instead, he said there are other ways for a Title IX coordinator to reach out to the victim while still maintaining anonymity.

"Because the college does not know who has made an anonymous report, it is possible that the Title IX coordinator could contact a survivor who filed an anonymous report based on separate information about that specific student from a third-party source," Tranquada said.

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