Yale Branded 'Hostile Sex' Campus in Complaint

Federal officials are investigating a complaint charging Yale University with failing to address a "hostile sexual environment" on campus. The complaint claims that university officials ignore or cover up reports of sex assault, and tolerate open expressions of hostility toward women. "Yale, in its failure to respond to both public and private instances of sexual harassment and sexual assault, has said to the campus 'This is OK,'" said one of 16 students who have signed the complaint. Examples cited in the documents include male students chanting "No means yes" outside dorms for women and holding aloft signs saying: "I love Yale sluts."

Also cited is a lengthy email circulated on campus rating the looks of incoming freshmen and speculating how drunk a male would have to be to bed an "ugly" female student. "I don't think misogyny is funny," said another woman in the case. "I don't think bigotry is funny. I think hateful speech can have a huge impact." Yale officials denied the charges. "Yale does not and will not tolerate sexual harassment," said a statement. If an investigation by the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights supports the students, that means Yale has violated Title IX regulations which bars gender discrimination at schools, and Yale could lose more than $500 million in federal funding, notes CBS News. (More Yale University stories.)