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ashington state’s six public universities received more than 2,500 reports of sexual misconduct or intimate partner violence in the past five years, according to their data.

The schools investigated about a fifth of these reports through internal systems. Under Title IX, the federal civil rights law, schools must respond to reports of sexual misconduct and ensure survivors have equal access to education. The others cases were not investigated at the reporting party’s request or because they were deemed to fall outside of the schools’ conduct codes, which prohibit sexual activity without a person’s consent.

There were also likely more cases of sexual misconduct that were not reported. Surveys conducted by the state’s public universities, as well as national groups such as the , have found that most survivors do not report and cite reasons such as not trusting their schools to respond. Marginalized groups — including students of color and those who are trans, nonbinary, queer, bisexual or have disabilities — faced sexual misconduct at disproportionately high rates, and some said they were less confident their reports would be taken seriously.

For students who do report, the process can be lengthy and emotionally taxing. Dozens of people  with The Seattle Times, including 25 who reported cases to a Washington state college in the past several years. Most said they were frustrated with how their cases were handled. They described being too exhausted at the end of the process, or not having enough information, to formally challenge their college’s response.