The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has taken the unprecedented step of releasing the names of the 55 colleges and universities currently facing a Title IX sexual abuse investigation.
The release comes two days after a White House task force promised greater government transparency on sexual assault in higher education.
The agency previously would confirm such an investigation when asked, but students and others were often unaware of them.
Read MoreHarassment at work: These sectors are the worst
Title IX prohibits gender discrimination at schools that receive federal funds. It is the same law that guarantees girls equal access to sports, but it also regulates institutions' handling of sexual violence and increasingly is being used by victims who say their school failed to protect them.
Investigations of schools listed by state as of May 1, 2014.
State | Institution |
AZ | Arizona State University |
CA | Butte-Glen Community College District |
CA | Occidental College |
CA | University of California-Berkeley |
CA | University of Southern California |
CO | Regis University |
CO | University of Colorado at Boulder |
CO | University of Colorado at Denver |
CO | University of Denver |
CT | University of Connecticut |
DC | Catholic University of America |
FL | Florida State University |
GA | Emory University |
HI | University of Hawaii at Manoa |
ID | University of Idaho |
IL | Knox College |
IL | University of Chicago |
IN | Indiana University-Bloomington |
IN | Vincennes University |
MA | Amherst College |
MA | Boston University |
MA | Emerson College |
MA | Harvard College |
MA | Harvard University—Law School |
MA | University of Massachusetts-Amherst |
MD | Frostburg State University |
MI | Michigan State University |
MI | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor |
NC | Guilford College |
NC | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
ND | Minot State University |
NH | Dartmouth College |
NJ | Princeton University |
NY | Cuny Hunter College |
NY | Hobart and William Smith Colleges |
NY | Sarah Lawrence College |
NY | Suny at Binghamton |
OH | Denison University |
OH | Ohio State University |
OH | Wittenberg University |
OK | Oklahoma State University |
PA | Carnegie Mellon University |
PA | Franklin and Marshall College |
PA | Pennsylvania State University |
PA | Swarthmore College |
PA | Temple University |
TN | Vanderbilt University |
TX | Southern Methodist University |
TX | The University of Texas-Pan American |
VA | College of William and Mary |
VA | University of Virginia |
WA | Washington State University |
WI | University of Wisconsin-Whitewater |
WV | Bethany College |
WV | West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine |
Source: U.S. Department of Education
—By The Associated Press