CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) _ The federal government has once again opened a civil rights investigation over issues of sexual violence on the University of Virginia campus. U.S. Education Department spokeswoman Dorie Nolt confirmed to news outlets Thursday that the department’s Office for Civil Rights opened a Title IX investigation at the university on July 22. It is the second such probe to occur at UVA within the past five years. The university says it’s cooperating with the investigation. UVA last year pledged numerous steps to prevent sexual violence and improve its handling of those cases, following a lengthy federal investigation. Title IX is the federal civil rights law that prohibits gender discrimination at schools that receive federal funds. It has increasingly been used by sexual assault victims who say their schools didn’t protect them.
