Marquette University responds to assault allegations against student athletes

Marquette University> is now responding to a federal investigation looking into sexual assault allegations against several student athletes. This is a story FOX6 News broke Thursday.

Three women say they were sexually assaulted by Marquette students in 2010. University officials did not notify the police.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm says he couldn't file charges in the cases because too much time had passed and a proper investigation couldn't be completed.

Now, the U.S. Department Education confirms it will examine whether Marquette University violated the Clery Act, a federal law that requires schools to report crimes on campus and do it transparently so the public has the information.

Marquette University says it is assisting with the investigation.

"We're saying we're in full compliance and we've been in full compliance," said Kate Venne, director of University Communication. "We report to Milwaukee Police any allegation of sexual assault, we've added a victim advocate position at our student health service and we've done quite a bit of training on campus for our students in terms of keeping themselves safe and even a bystander intervention program that teaches students to look out for each other."

The Clery Act is the same law that prompted federal authorities to look into Penn State. But Marquette University officials are quick to point out the Marquette situation has no parallels to the sex abuse scandal at Penn State. That case involved children and resulted in no criminal charges.