6 Mass. Colleges Facing Federal Sex Assault Probe

Six Massachusetts colleges are facing a federal investigation over their handling of sex assault complaints.

The institutions are:

• Amherst College
• Boston University
• Emerson College
• Harvard
• Harvard University Law School
• UMass Amherst 

They are part of 55 colleges across the country under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights for possible mishandling of complaints related to sexual assault and harassment.

"We are making this list available in an effort to bring more transparency to our enforcement work and to foster better public awareness of civil rights," Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon said in a statement. "We hope this increased transparency will spur community dialogue about this important issue. I also want to make it clear that a college or university's appearance on this list and being the subject of a Title IX investigation in no way indicates at this stage that the college or university is violating or has violated the law."

Officials did not reveal the nature of any of the complaints.

In a statement, Boston University officials said there was one complaint made in October, according to Fox 25. They didn't go into detail.

"While we believe the University provided the student with a prompt and equitable resolution of the complaint in full accordance with the requirements of Title IX, we are cooperating fully with OCR in its investigation and are always open to improving the manner in which we respond to any incident of sexual misconduct reported to us," BU officials said in a statement.