The federal government has begun an investigation into an alleged hostile sexual environment at Yale University.  Officers from the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, have begun an investigation into complaints by students that the elite university in Connecticut has become a sexually hostile environment.

A group of 16 men and women at the university have filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, alleging that Yale had failed to take any action to respond to instances of sexual harassment on the campus.  The allegations are more serious than the kind that California sexual harassment lawyers typically come across.  The complaint is alleging that the university looks the other way when faced with allegations of sex crimes against students on campus.  According to the plaintiffs, Yale has not ever expelled a student for rape.  

Prominent alumni of the university are coming out now to add to the students complaints.  According to noted author Naomi Wolf, the lawsuit by the university students barely scratches the surface of what is really going on at Yale.  According to Wolf, for a long time now, Yale has been engaged in a systematic cover-up of sex crimes against students.  While the university has a formal grievance procedure through which complaints are processed, it actually provides very little support to the victims.  To the students, it may seem like the university is providing a sympathetic ear, but in reality, the victims claim, the university is only looking out for its own interests.  It does this by isolating victims, and protecting the university.

For Yale, there is much at stake here.  The university is eligible for federal funding, but if investigations reveal gender discrimination, then it would impact the $500 million in funds that Yale is eligible to receive from the federal government.