Jan 03, 2014 12:05 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

The U.S. Education Department's (ED) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) will being an investigation at Emerson College into the school's handling of three sexual assault complaints.

The Huffington Post reported seeing a letter from Nicole M. Merhill, ED senior civil rights attorney informing one of the complainants of the investigation. Sarah Tedesco, a sophomore at Emerson, Jillian Doherty, a junior, and Sarita Nadkarni, a junior, told the HP last month they had filed the federal complaint.

"While we have not yet seen the official notification, we look forward to cooperating with the Office for Civil Rights in pursuit of best practices," Andy Tiedemann, Emerson's vice president for communications and marketing, told the HP in a statement.

M. Lee Pelton, Emerson's president, promised an internal investigation into the school's practices in relation to reported sexual assaults. Still, his school now joins more than 30 that are currently being reviewed for their compliance with the federal gender equity law Title IX.

Tedesco alleged the school took months before beginning their investigation into her sexual assault complaint. She also said she began receiving anonymous threats and did not find any support from the school. During the schools investigation, Tedesco said the same person sexually assaulted her a second time.

Doherty claims the school did a poor job of investigating her complaint and did not interview any witnesses. Nadkarni said she was put on academic probation because the trauma of her attack caused her to lose focus in school. As a result, her grades slipped and she was in danger of losing her scholarship, but she said the school did not provide her with adequate help.

"We will be requesting documents from the College and may conduct an onsite to interview College staff," Merhill said in the letter, indicating all three complaints will be treated in the same review. "We are also of course interested in reviewing any documents you may wish to provide, as well as interviewing any individuals with whom you would like us to speak."

CLICK HERE to read why sexual assault on campus was the most prevalent college news story of 2013.

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