A day after students at the California Institute of the Arts staged a protest about administrators' handling of a sex assault case, students at the prestigious art school said they will begin offering their own support to victims.
“We are creating a safe space for people who are assaulted or have been assaulted to come forward," said Cori Redstone, a masters of fine arts student studying painting and one of the protest organizers.
She said they intend to support those victims through the reporting process - and what happens next.
"We can stand with them as they decide what they want to do and how they want to handle their case," she said.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights launched an investigation into a case where the school punished the alleged perpetrator of a rape with a one-year suspension.
With CalArts, the agency is now investigating 86 campuses around the country for possible violation of federal law over the handling and reporting of sexual assault complaints. They include USC, UCLA and Occidental college.
CalArts officials issued a statement saying they followed all the proper protocols and procedures in the case, but can't discuss any details due to the federal investigation.
“We take matters of sexual misconduct like this very seriously and in this particular incident, we followed all Institute protocols and procedures," the statement read. "We are currently working with our students, faculty and staff to provide increased education and prevention resources and are fostering opportunities for community discussion to help stop these kinds of incidents from happening in the future."
Thursday's student protest at CalArts included a silent demonstration inside the administration building.
Redstone and other protestors insist school officials fail to adequately report or investigate allegations of sexual assault on campus.
The 86 post-secondary institutions currently under federal investigation for possible violations of Title IX regarding their handling of sex abuse allegations - and the dates the investigations were launched - are:
- Amherst College 1/6/2014
- Arizona State University 1/26/2012
- Berklee College Of Music 6/19/2014
- Bethany College 4/28/2014
- Boston University 12/16/2013
- Brandeis University 8/29/2014
- Brown University 7/10/2014
- Butte-Glenn Community College District 2/27/2013
- California Institute Of The Arts 9/30/2014
- Carnegie Mellon University 1/13/2014
- Catholic University Of America 1/8/2014
- Cisco Junior College 5/7/2014
- College Of William And Mary 4/18/2014
- Colorado State University 6/24/2014
- Cuny Hunter College 2/8/2013
- Dartmouth College 5/31/2013
- Davis And Elkins College 9/4/2014
- Denison University 3/7/2014
- Drake University 10/3/2014
- Elmira College 5/12/2014
- Emerson College 12/23/2013
- Emory University 12/13/2013
- Florida State University 4/3/2014
- Franklin And Marshall College 3/26/2014
- Frostburg State University 9/18/2013
- Grand Valley State University 10/6/2014
- Guilford College 11/18/2013
- Hampshire College 7/17/2014
- Harvard College 4/24/2014
- Harvard University - Law School 12/21/2010
- Hobart And William Smith Colleges 4/24/2014
- Indiana University-Bloomington 3/12/2014
- Iowa State University 10/15/2014
- James Madison University 6/4/2014
- Johns Hopkins University 8/8/2014
- Kansas State University 8/4/2014 Ks University Of Kansas 7/16/2014
- Knox College 1/2/2014
- Marlboro College 10/6/2014
- Michigan State University Case 1: 7/21/2011; Case 2: 2/18/2014
- Minot State University 2/26/2014
- Missouri University Of Science And Technology 5/21/2014
- Morgan State University 6/26/2014
- Occidental College 5/2/2013
- Oklahoma State University 4/10/2014
- Pace University - New York 7/22/2014
- Pennsylvania State University 1/23/2014
- Princeton University 12/15/2010
- Regis University 4/30/2013
- Saint Thomas Aquinas College 7/9/2014
- Sarah Lawrence College 12/4/2013
- Southern Methodist University Case 1: 8/17/2011; Case 2: 4/19/2013; Case 3: 4/19/2013
- Suny At Stony Brook 7/23/2014
- Swarthmore College 7/12/2013
- Temple University 8/9/2013
- The University Of Akron 5/6/2014
- The University Of Texas-Pan American 4/21/2014
- University Of Alaska System Of Higher Education 5/5/2014
- University Of California-Berkeley 3/25/2014
- University Of California-Los Angeles 8/8/2014
- University Of Chicago 6/28/2013
- University Of Colorado At Boulder 6/18/2013
- University Of Colorado At Denver 4/29/2014
- University Of Connecticut 12/6/2013
- University Of Delaware 5/8/2014
- University Of Denver 12/12/2013
- University Of Hawaii At Manoa 5/28/2013
- University Of Idaho 4/18/2013
- University Of Massachusetts-Amherst 6/30/2011
- University Of Massachusetts-Dartmouth 7/16/2014
- University Of Michigan-Ann Arbor 2/21/2014
- University Of Nebraska-Lincolin 9/30/2014
- University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill 3/1/2013
- University Of Richmond 6/12/2014
- University Of South Florida 9/3/2014
- University Of Southern California 6/26/2013
- University Of Virginia 6/30/2011
- University Of Wisconsin-Whitewater 2/14/2014
- Valparaiso University 10/3/2014
- Vanderbilt University 3/12/2014
- Vincennes University 3/20/2014
- Virginia Military Institute 9/15/2014
- Washburn University 7/1/2014
- Washington State University 1/15/2013
- West Virginia School Of Osteopathic Medicine 3/25/2013
- Wittenberg University Case 1: 8/25/2011; Case 2: 4/18/2013