College administrators and law enforcement share a concern about incidents of sexual assault involving college students. And that can be a problem.

A high-level group of Colorado’s higher-education institutions and justice system, including Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey and U.S. Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle D. Johnson, met in Denver to address sexual assault for a panel that will be broadcast on Rocky Mountain PBS’ Colorado Quarterly on Friday.

They agreed on the seriousness of an issue that has gained traction nationally in the last year, on the heels of an Obama administration initiative aimed at improving students’ safety and bolstering schools’ internal policies.

“Safety has to be a critical issue in our universities,” said Tony Frank, president of Colorado State University in Fort Collins. “The issue of whether we’re offering a great education, whether it’s affordable – these questions pale in comparison to any parent’s concern for their child’s safety.”

Colleges are obligated under Title IX, a federal law, to adjudicate sexual assault in the name of gender equality on campus.

But universities’ obligations to investigate and adjudicate cases involving their students can be at cross-purposes with law enforcement, said Morrissey. Especially in cases where victims are incapacitated by drugs or alcohol and don’t remember details of an assault, university processes can sometimes get in the way of law enforcement efforts to investigate, he said.

“We find that Title IX causes us problems with that,” said Morrissey. College proceedings are often more transparent than police investigations – sometimes because of specific obligations of the Clery Act, which requires colleges to keep students informed about crime on campus.

“The Clery Act puts everyone on notice, including perpetrators,” said the prosecutor.

His office is working with six Denver-based colleges to develop a protocol for handling sexual assault cases to coordinate efforts and ensure that processes don’t interfere with each other.

The meetings have improved coordination between law enforcement and the colleges, he said, while they work toward a protocol for the cases.

The Obama administration efforts to strengthen the enforcement of Title IX have come under some criticism by conservatives who believe that the White House is overreaching. Critics have questioned the crime’s prevalence among college students – and the rate of false reporting – particularly after an explosive and later discredited Rolling Stone story about a rape on the campus of the University of Virginia.

But Frank said questions about the prevalence of assault, which is hard to gauge, are a distraction.

“Would we feel better if the numbers were half of what they are?” said Frank. “The numbers are too high. Period.”

CSU is one of five universities in the state under federal investigation by the Department of Education for its handling of sexual violence. Regis University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Denver are also under investigation, according to a list released by the Office of Civil Rights.

Frank said the university has been pushing education on issues like consent, among other programs aimed at preventing assaults.

He brushed off the significance of the federal investigation.

“It’s an audit, which we welcome,” said Frank, adding later that the investigation was not in reaction to any specific complaint by a student.

The Air Force Academy, as a military service academy, is not subject to Title IX requirements. It has the capacity to court-martial students who commit offenses like sexual assault.

But the institution has come under public scrutiny for its handling of sexual violence. Johnson late last year ordered the academy’s inspector general to investigate, among other things, allegations unearthed by The Gazette that members of the football team used date-rape drugs to assault women.

The academy superintendent said the institution has strengthened protections for victims, and built more avenues for them to come forward confidentially with reports of sexual assault. The institution has also replaced the athletic director, and Johnson said she is working to educate Academy leadership to bolster efforts to prevent sexual assault from happening among the cadets under their watch.

The Durango Herald brings you this report in partnership with Rocky Mountain PBS I-News. Learn more at rmpbs.org/news. Contact Kristin Jones at kristinjones@rmpbs.org.