Of the six Yale University students found guilty of "nonconsensual sex," five received a punishment no harsher than a written reprimand, the Huffington Post reported.
From the beginning of 2013 through June 30, one of the six was suspended, but following the two-semester ban, he will be allowed back on campus under probation for the rest of his time at Yale.
Four received a written reprimand and one was ordered to attend a gender sensitivity course. All six will be able to finish their degrees at the Ivy League school in New Haven, Conn.
Yale spokeswoman Karen N. Peart said the school does not tolerate sexual misconduct, but also would not discuss specific cases.
"One result of this commitment to confidentiality is that the descriptions in the report do not fully capture the diversity and complexity of the circumstances associated with the complaints or the factors that determined the outcomes and sanctions," Peart said. "Nonetheless, the range of penalties described in the semi-annual report reflects our readiness to impose harsh sanctions when the findings warrant them."
The U.S. Department of Education's (ED) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) finished a yearlong investigation, launched in 2011, into the school's failure to report sexual misconduct incidents. Yale was fined $155,000 for violations of the Clery Act.
Alexandra Brodsky, a Yale graduate at the head of the 2011 federal complaint that sparked the OCR investigation, said she was disappointed the six guilty students were not expelled.
"It's so, so frustrating to have reported to the school, been let down by the school, brought it to the federal government and then get let down by the federal government," Brodsky said.
Many universities, as well as ED, have come under harsh scrutiny for not punishing those guilty of sexual misconduct and the institutions that fail to report such incidents.
ED and OCR are in the midst of several investigations into potential Clery Act and Title IX violations at schools including USC, UNC-Chapel Hill, Swarthmore, Cedarville and others. Vanderbilt is currently nearing the end of a police sex crime investigation involving four football players and Duke has announced it will expel students guilty of sexual misconduct.
Brodsky said she too will return to Yale in the fall to study law and plans to continue to pressure the government to crack down on sexual misconduct on campus.
