VMI to allow pregnant and parenting cadets to remain in school after federal probe
Source: Washington Post
The Virginia Military Institute has agreed to allow pregnant or parenting cadets to remain enrolled, reversing a policy that had required them to leave the public college, federal officials announced Friday.
The shift came in response to a broader inquiry into allegations of sex discrimination at VMI. Federal investigators also faulted VMI’s handling of several sexual harassment and assault complaints, finding that the college in Lexington had allowed some cadets to be subject to “a sexually hostile environment” in violation of federal law.
Those conclusions stung for a school that underwent a profound cultural shift after it admitted women for the first time in 1997 in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The findings also reflected an Obama administration drive to use enforcement of civil rights law to combat sexual assault on the nation’s college campuses.
Tufts University on Friday announced that it was recommitting itself to an accord with the federal government resolving an investigation into sex assault issues on its campus. That signaled the end of a dispute between Tufts and the Obama administration over federal enforcement.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/vmi-to-allow-pregnant-and-parenting-cadets-to-remain-in-school-after-federal-probe/2014/05/09/20f03dca-d79d-11e3-95d3-3bcd77cd4e11_story.html