Apr 17, 2014 10:50 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is continuing her initiative for sexual assault response on college campuses, announcing an "extensive survey" for more than 350 colleges and universities in America.

According to the Huffington Post, McCaskill is sending the survey to public, private non-profit and private for-profit schools alike. The goal is to gather as much data as possible on how colleges and universities handle sexual assault in order to enhance law enforcement's response to such claims.

Currently, more than a dozen schools are under federal investigation for mishandling reports of sexual assault. Allegations include neglect from administrators, incomplete campus police investigations and more.

These federal probes are taking place at some of the most prestigious and well-known institutions, such as UConn, Dartmouth, Emerson Florida State and more. For all the schools under investigation now, there are plenty more that have already been probed and fined as a result.

U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have also pledged to create legislation to reform sexual assault response in their states. Also joining the initiative is President Barack Obama. In Jan., the White House released "Rape and Sexual Assault: a Renewed Call to Action," a document detailing the dangers facing women in college and how the government can help.

McCaskill has also focused her attention on reforming sexual assault in the military, a group in which women may sometimes feel unsafe in reporting their attacks.

"What I learned is you need to slow down and get the policy right," McCaskill told the HP.

She and Gillibrand had previously agreed on 35 of 36 military reforms to sexual assault and now the N.Y. senator agrees it is time to focus on campus sexual assault.

"Through the course of that work, in the last couple months, we started hearing from students and advocates about the issue of sexual assault in college campuses," Glen Caplin, Gillibrand's communications director, told the HP. "You start to hear some things that are eerily similar. They're very different in terms of solutions, but you start to hear things that are systemic in nature."

McCaskill said the challenge for spurring schools to adjudicate more sexual assault claims more effectively will be to specifically focus the punishment for not doing so on the school and not the thousands of students who had nothing to do with the matter.

"Is it realistic that were going to cut off student aid to thousands of students who have done nothing wrong because the university [violated Title IX]?" said McCaskill. "How much of a deterrent is it if the ultimate penalty is so broad?"

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