GRINNELL, Iowa (AP) – Federal officials have confirmed that they’re investigating Grinnell College’s handling of sexual assault cases. Grinnell spokesman Jim Reische told The Des Moines Register that the federal investigations are supposed to be completed in 180 days. But he says that because of the national jump in complaints, the average time has stretched to about four years.

Earlier this year Grinnell College President Raynard Kington asked the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to determine whether the college complied with Title IX, the federal law that bars sex discrimination in education, in addressing cases at Grinnell.