CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The University of North Carolina (UNC) is facing criticism for the way campus police handles sexual assault cases, with some students and advocacy groups claiming that officers try to dissuade victims from pressing charges.
One incident in September 2010 involved a female student and two members of the UNC football team. When she reported the incident to campus police, the victim claims that the officers told her the case was not worth pursuing in criminal trial and encouraged her to drop the case because the two suspects were athletes. The woman later stopped the investigation, The Daily Tar Heel reports.
The latest revelation is another blow to the university, which has three federal complaints pending in the U.S. Department of Education stating that UNC has violated sexual assault victims’ rights, and has created a hostile environment for students who report sexual assaults.
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