>> he put his -- hand around my throat. i didn't wanna scream. i was afraid that that would make things worse. i remember thinking in my very, out of body state, "how can i get help? what can i do?" >> reporter: they are stories that are hard to tell and hard to hear. >> he grabbed me by my jaw. and then, i blacked out. >> reporter: college women, who say they were sexually assaulted by fellow students. and that when they went to authorities for help, they didn't get the support they'd hoped for. >> the questions were like, "what are you wearing?

tell us how much you had to drink? >> reporter: tonight, the latest on what some say is an epidemic some universities have tried to hide. >> over 100 schools are being investigated by the department of education now. >> and how many colleges are trying to create a system that works for all. >> every campus that i'm aware of is aware of the dynamic tension between how to support the victim and also have a fair process for the accused. >> reporter: meet a star athlete accused of rape, who some say was actually a victim, himself. >> was jordan johnson a sacrificial lamb? >> reporter: and a brave survivor, whose case took a stunning turn in a single, surprising moment. >> i remember thinking, "oh my god!" >> reporter: for students and faculty across the country: a "teachable moment." >> it's like being stuck in like a cave and finding that one ray of light and realizing that there's a way out. >> reporter: crisis on campus. >> thanks for joining us. i'm lester holt. choosing a college is one of the biggest decisions a young person will ever make. but this year those decisions

have been made against the backdrop of an unprecedented national debate about sexual assault on campus and how it's handled by school officials. we're about to go inside what some call a crisis. follow a couple of troubling and thought-provoking cases from beginning to end and learn about a surprising new tool that victims are using to change the system. here's andrea canning. >> reporter: jillian doherty says her real education didn't begin when she arrived for college orientation in the fall of 2011. it began several months later, a few hours before dawn, when she says another student put his hands around her throat and raped her. >> did you just feel that total loss of control? >> oh, my god, yeah. >> reporter: a loss of control that spiraled when she reported the assault to her college. >> it was almost like being raped a whole other time. >> reporter: and prompted her to get schooled in something she

never expected -- fighting back >> the idea that good will overcome. it's the only thing that keeps me going. >> reporter: sexual assault isn't something most parents used to think about when they packed their kids off to college. but these days it's hard not to. >> the rape took place while the 21-year-old was unconscious. >> reporter: cases both disturbing and controversial have grabbed headlines. some proven -- >> we find mr. vanderburg guilty of aggravated rape. >> reporter: others discredited -- >> there is no substantive basis to conclude what is described in that article happened that night. >> reporter: all of them examining a hidden problem on campus. >> you called it an epidemic? >> it is an epidemic. and it's -- it's far too pervasive. >> reporter: more than 100 colleges are currently under investigation by the department of education after being accused by students of mishandling reports of sexual assault. and colleges are spending millions to try to get it right.

>> campuses are really redoubling their efforts to try to address this. >> reporter: but behind the policy discussions and the headlines are some very human stories. tonight you'll see how challenging it can be for college administrators to become sex crime investigators and you'll meet some young people caught up in the debate. from a star quarterback accused of rape in missoula, montana -- >> was jordan johnson a sacrificial lamb? >> reporter: to an aspiring writer who reluctantly went public with her story. >> i really did feel like "the rape girl." and everyone's just like thinking terrible things about me. >> reporter: their college days darkened, their bright futures interrupted. jillian doherty went to high school in the sunny sprawl of or orlando orlando, florida. she wanted something different for college and set her sights

on emerson, a small liberal arts college based in the heart of downtown boston. >> i was really hoping i'd get in. and i was really -- i cried when i got in. >> reporter: her first months as a freshman were everything she'd hoped for. great classes, great friends and a crush on a film student. >> he was nice to me. and i was new to college and, you know, of course i wanted a boyfriend to show up the first moment i got to college. of course i wanted that. >> reporter: after getting to know him, jillian says she had sex with the student one time. but the relationship didn't go anywhere. he told her he was interested in someone else and she moved on. until one night, a few weeks later. >> all of a sudden one night he messaged me online and asked me to come over. and i didn't think anything of it, so i did. >> kind of a booty call? >> yeah. >> reporter: the man told jillian he'd been drinking at a party. she'd been drinking too. they started having sex on the couch in his dorm room. >> in the middle of it he got really aggressive. >> reporter: jillian says the man asked her to perform a sex

act she wasn't comfortable with. she said no, but he ignored her. >> so the consensual sex quickly turned to a one-way street? >> yeah. >> were you screaming? were -- how were you trying to get him to stop? >> i was asking him. but when i did ask him he put his hand around my throat. so i was in fear of my life. i didn't wanna scream. i was afraid that that would make things worse. >> reporter: jillian says she started to whimper, hoping someone would hear her. no one did. and so she says with his hands around her neck, the student raped her. >> i didn't know what was going to happen next. >> reporter: jillian says her attacker passed out after the assault. she crept outside and stood on the street in a daze. >> i actually was so confused. no one was out on the street. it was just me. and i was so -- i've never felt more alone in my life. >> reporter: the next day jillian says she had bruises on

her body. and questions about what had happened. she was afraid to meet the student she'd been with that night face to face, so ten days later she messaged him on facebook. >> i asked him if he remembered that night. and he said kinda. and i said, well, you know you raped me. >> reporter: the student wrote, "what???" and "i don't know what to say to that." he said he didn't remember the assault but apologized adding, "you know that's not the kind of person i am." and for a while that half apology was enough for jillian. >> i didn't want it to disrupt all the amazing things that were happening by me, you know, getting into emerson and everything. >> reporter: and jillian also worried that if she told someone at the college what happened that night, she would get in trouble for drinking. so she kept quiet. but not far from her, another emerson student's life was about to unravel. and the choices that student made would lead jillian into doing something she never

imagined. coming up. that student chose to come forward with a harrowing story. >> he slammed my head into the wall and the next thing i knew it was happening. anoro contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. it is not known if this risk is increased in copd. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, or high blood pressure. tell your doctor if you have glaucoma, prostate or bladder problems, or problems passing urine

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>> reporter: for nearly a year, jillian doherty tried to shut out the memories of the night she says her friend sexually assaulted her in his dorm room. >> i really tried so hard to just, you know, not let it interfere with my life. >> reporter: jillian confided in a few friends, but she didn't report the incident to anyone at the college or to local police. experts say this is pretty common. >> 85 percent or more of college victims are not going to report their assault to anyone. >> reporter: nancy chi cantalupo is an adjunct professor at georgetown law who has written extensively on the issue of campus sexual assault. >> it's just a fear of not being believed. >> reporter: but jillian began to feel differently in march 2013 when she heard the story of another emerson student who said

she'd been raped. >> i was just i think trying to be able to figure how i was going to get out of there alive. >> reporter: sarah tedesco says she was assaulted six weeks after arriving at emerson. the night she says it happened, sarah and her friends were drinking with a female sophomore who told them about a party across town. >> i'd only gone to one party before that, so it was exciting. >> reporter: they made their way to a frat house at another university, m.i.t. a group of partygoers was lined up outside. sarah says she pushed her way to the front. >> somebody came out of the house and was like were, "are you alone? like do you wanna come in?" and i said, "yes." >> reporter: sarah says the mit student didn't take her into the party as she'd hoped, but to an office in the frat house where she says he raped her. >> it happened pretty fast. he slammed my head against the wall and the next thing i knew, like it was happening. >> reporter: unlike jillian,

sarah says she told someone at emerson about the incident right away. one of the college supervisors of her residence hall came to check on her the next day. but, sarah says, instead of comforting her, the woman interrogated her. >> are you sure that you were assaulted? you know, you were drinking. she kept saying like, "are you sure? are you sure? and that sort of theme kept happening to every person that i ended up having to tell. >> reporter: sarah went to the emerson college police later that day. but because the alleged assault happened off campus and across town, they directed her to the city of cambridge police department. detectives began an investigation. they told sarah to go to the hospital to be evaluated for sexual assault, which she did the next day. and they documented sarah's injuries. she had a swollen eye and bruising on her inner thighs. >> i just felt like i was, like on this, like ride that was like never gonna end. and it was just like really fast and very scary.

>> reporter: a week later, sarah picked the m.i.t. student she thought had raped her out of a photo line up. but detectives found no dna in sarah's rape kit or on her clothing that matched the m.i.t. student's dna. in fact, a lab analysis of the rape kit showed no evidence of sperm at all. it did show something else, sarah says detectives told her female saliva. >> and i was just like "what?" >> reporter: that night sarah says she had a flashback to the night of the alleged assault. and a much more detailed memory of the incident came back to her. >> it was the first time everything was like starting to be really crystal clear about what had happened. >> reporter: because of this new memory, sarah now suspected the female sophomore who had taken her to the party had been in the office too. that she'd held her down while the m.i.t. student raped her. and what's more, she suspected, the sophomore had assaulted her too. >> some people may ask why wouldn't you remember everything

right away. wouldn't you remember every single detail? >> yeah and a lot of survivors' like heads their brains kind of like block things out to protect them. so in my case this person was my friend. and i think my brain was just saying like, i can't deal with that right now. >> reporter: in fact sarah says the new memory upset her so much, she ended up in the hospital. it's hard to know for sure what happened to sarah. she wrote an article about her assault months later for a campus magazine and some of the details were different. we spoke to four students who saw sarah that night. two believed her story. two didn't. and the female student sarah suspected took part in the sexual assault, she told us she didn't go inside the frat house, let alone participate in any assault. and when sarah first reported her suspicions to emerson, she admitted she wasn't certain the sophomore was the female who assaulted her. nonetheless, she asked emerson to open an investigation. >> at first like i thought they

-- i thought they were going to help me. >> reporter: sarah says she had a good first meeting with one of the people assigned to investigate her allegations. his name was michael arno and he was the director of student conduct. but a few weeks later, she says, his tone changed. >> the questions were like, what were you wearing? like tell us how much you had to drink. and then the biggest question that they asked that i just like i broke down and i could not continue is when michael arno asked me why i think that they assaulted me and i just like didn't get it. like cause i was just like how am i supposed to like know why somebody would assault me? >> reporter: arno and another college investigator told sarah it would be hard to proceed with her case unless new evidence came to light. shortly after, sarah told them she had received threatening but anonymous text messages and voicemails she believed were from the female sophomore. and then, a few weeks later,

sarah told campus police the female sophomore and m.i.t. student had cornered her in an alley and assaulted her again. >> i think the point of it was to get me to stop talking and -- >> reporter: intimidation, in your eyes. >> definitely intimidation. >> reporter: but even as emerson conducted an investigation, sarah decided it was time to go public with her story. >> and i was like the only way to make some sort of justice come from this is to get students together and to get students angry and to like make sure that some sort of change happened. >> reporter: sarah and a friend posted a facebook message asking students to contact emerson's top administrators to protest how the college handled reports of sexual assault. that's when jillian heard about sarah. for the first time in a year, she felt like she wasn't alone. she decided to join sarah's campaign. >> when i sent that letter i also included, "i also was raped" and so if you could just put that in, like the log or whatever, that's all i need." >> reporter: without knowing it,

jillian had triggered what she'd never wanted -- an investigation. and what had been a very private journey was about to become very public indeed. coming up -- jillian describes an unnerving on campus encounter with her alleged rapist. >> he glared right at me. >> were you afraid of that? >> i'm still afraid. >> and two women find a creative way to fight back when "dateline" continues.

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>> reporter: jillian doherty found herself sitting across the table from a stranger, telling him something she'd tried to keep a secret for a year -- the story of her alleged rape. >> was it a relief when you finally said something? did it feel empowering? >> it did feel empowering. but i was also afraid of being treated badly or worse because i was telling the truth. >> reporter: the man she was speaking to was michael arno, emerson's director of student conduct, the same man who'd been investigating fellow student sarah tedesco's case. >> he said, "you know it has been a year. we'll do what we can. i know you probably aren't coming into this thinking that

all of these things are gonna happen," because i didn't have the evidence to back everything up. >> reporter: a few weeks later, jillian says she ran into her alleged attacker on campus. >> he glared right at me. >> were you afraid after that? >> yeah, i'm still afraid. >> reporter: but jillian said she found courage in teaming up with sarah to create emerson stopping sexual assault, a student advocacy group. >> i feel like we were the first people on emerson's campus to actually like bring the issue to light. >> reporter: and the administration took notice. in an email to the student body, emerson's president promised to review the way the college was handling reports of sexual assault. jillian and sarah wondered what that would mean for their own cases. in may 2013 they both found out. for sarah there was disappointment. investigators decided there was not enough evidence to support her allegations of sexual assault by the female sophomore inside the m.i.t. frat house noting, among other things, that sarah had not positively identified her. >> the school dismissed your case?

>> yeah. they decided, before it even got to the hearing stage, that it didn't deserve a hearing and that there wasn't enough information for a hearing. >> reporter: the college also told sarah it had been unable to identify who had sent her those threatening text messages and voicemails and said there was not enough evidence to support her report of a second assault. the college said the female sophomore had provided investigators with evidence she had been out of town at the time of the alleged incident. >> does part of you ever understand their side that there just isn't that evidence that they need? >> i guess i don't understand it. the thing that makes me most angry isn't that they found her not responsible. it's that they just refused to acknowledge that i was assaulted. >> reporter: as for the m.i.t. student, the cambridge police who investigated him declined to talk to us, citing state law, but we found out no charges were ever filed against him.

jillian, however, got different news. unlike sarah, emerson granted jillian a hearing before the school's conduct board. it would decide if a sexual assault had occurred and if jillian's alleged attacker should be disciplined. >> who's playing judge in this? who's deciding what happens? >> they just have, like, a pool of administrators and professors. >> reporter: because it was scheduled after the end of the school year, both jillian and the student she'd accused were out of town. they agreed that the hearing could happen over skype. >> what happened in the hearing? >> it was very shoddy. i mean, it was over the computer, which i expected to be, you know, kind of weird but not nearly as unprofessional. >> reporter: jillian had the right to call witnesses and present evidence. she didn't. she says her alleged attacker submitted a character reference written by his friend. >> i was so caught off guard. i'm sitting in front of my computer. i'm, like, hearing all of this praise for my rapist. >> and then how quickly was the decision made?

>> they said it would take seven business days and it took a month. >> reporter: the board found the male student "not responsible" for raping jillian. the reasons given -- both he and jillian had been drinking and so probably didn't remember what happened. and that jillian had told her roommate the day after the incident she wasn't sure she had been raped. >> i cried so hard. i remember meeting with a priest, because i was so miserable. >> reporter: jillian didn't believe the college investigation had been thorough or fair. and now, this student who had been so reluctant at first to report her alleged rape, to let it take over her life, made a decision to see her case through. >> i appealed right away. >> which takes an act of courage in itself. >> yeah. this is my life, and i can't just give up like that. >> reporter: while she waited to find out if emerson would grant her appeal, jillian heard about a national network of activists trying to tackle the problem of campus rape. >> this is happening on all

college campuses. no one's immune. >> it's very hard for a university to admit that they have a problem so deeply rooted as sexual assault. >> reporter: annie clark and andrea pino are founders of end rape on campus, an advocacy group that among other things helps college students learn more about something called "title ix." title ix is federal legislation that requires colleges receiving federal funding to provide an equal education to both men and women. in 2011 the department of education issued guidelines clarifying what this law obligates colleges to do when they receive reports of sexual assault. >> provide services and resources to student victims. engage in an investigation. and to seek to prevent the violence from reoccurring or from occurring generally. >> reporter: any college suspected of failing to meet these obligations risks a federal investigation and fines. >> a lot of people started

reaching out and they said, "this happened to me. what can i do? how do i file a complaint?" >> reporter: annie and andrea have helped dozens of students file title ix complaints against their schools with the department of education. that includes jillian and sarah. >> it was just obvious to both of us that the institution was not being professional and not giving us our rights. i mean, we may be young, but we're not stupid. >> reporter: jillian and sarah, along with two other emerson students, filed a title ix complaint against the college. the department of education agreed to investigate. emerson told us it is cooperating fully. >> in most of these cases, what we're talking about is a credibility contest. there are no witnesses. it is very hard to find evidence of what happened. >> reporter: but if the cases sarah and jillian brought to the door of their college administrators sound complicated and difficult to resolve, wait till you hear about another

campus across the country with a series of alleged sexual assault incidents that didn't stay behind closed doors. it ended up with a star quarterback on trial in a case that engulfed a whole town. coming up -- unlike so many cases, this one has a witness of sorts. what the house mates saw. >> she was noticeably distress distressed. she had tears in her eyes. >> was jordan johnson a sacrificial lamb? heartbeat, breathing. introducing the sleep number bed with sleepiqtm technology. it tracks your sleep and tells you how to adjust

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>> reporter: missoula, montana is big sky country. home to the university of know, everything shuts down and everybody goes to the stadium and it was just special to be a part of it. >> reporter: brett brauer fulfilled a boyhood dream when he scored a spot on the grizzlies team. >> do you feel like a little bit of a celebrity in your hometown? >> a little bit, but not -- not really. most people understand that we're looked at as role models for a lot of kids growing up in town here. >> but in the spring of 2012, a pall fell over the university of montana. multiple allegations of rape involving grizzly football players were in the air. and suddenly this college town found itself taking sides. >> reporter: crime reporter gwen florio started it all back in 2011 when she heard a rumor that had been making its way around town. two female students had been gang raped by some football players. >> we called the university.

and they said, "yes, as a matter of fact we're looking into exactly these allegations." >> reporter: the case fizzled. no charges were ever filed, no students disciplined. but florio wrote an article about it for the missoulian newspaper, which this woman read. >> it broke my heart. because i was like, oh, my god. what if it's these same guys? >> reporter: kelsey belnap, a radiology student at the university of montana, contacted florio to tell her she'd been gang raped by some football players at a party the year before. kelsey says she drank too much and passed out only to wake up to the unimaginable. >> i look around. 'cause i'm like, "what the heck am i doin' in a bedroom?" >> reporter: that's when kelsey says she was assaulted by four different men. when it was over, she went to a rape crisis center where a nurse evaluated her for sexual assault and documented multiple injuries. kelsey filed a complaint with missoula police and waited for them to investigate. >> during this time, there was a

lot of mixed emotions. i would cry because i was sad. and then, five minutes later, i'd be like, no. don't give them that satisfaction of making you cry. be determined to fight for what's right. >> reporter: but kelsey's fight stalled when police told her the men denied everything and there wasn't enough evidence to pursue her case. they did promise to contact the university on her behalf. >> the cops had made it sound like they were going to take care of it for me. >> reporter: but she says no one at the college ever contacted her. and she didn't know why until gwen florio found out something that surprised both of them. police had told the football coach about the incident, but he'd kept it to himself. >> by mistake, and i'm sure an honest mistake, he just did not report it to me. >> reporter: jim o'day was the school's athletic director at the time. he says the coach disciplined the players on his own without involving the administration. >> he brought the -- the men in. regardless of what happened, they were disciplined for being

in a situation that they shouldn't have been in. >> reporter: but that locker room justice didn't seem adequate to the dean of students when he found out about the incident a year later. he initiated disciplinary proceedings against kelsey's four alleged rapists. two of the students were no longer enrolled at the college. one student was expelled. and a fourth student was banned from setting foot on campus after he finished out the school year. >> i was a little upset that this kid got to graduate and go live his life. >> reporter: kelsey was also upset by what she'd overheard some people in town say about the rape allegations. >> a lot of people were like football players don't need to rape. they can get laid anytime they want. >> reporter: but it was nothing compared to the reaction when yet another grizzly player was accused of rape. his name was jordan johnson and he was the quarterback. grizzlies fans defended the popular player on community message boards and lashed out at johnson's accuser.

her housemate, stephen green, heard the talk. >> i would hear people say like, oh, i heard she was really slutty and that's why she got raped. >> reporter: green knew more than most about what happened. he says he was a witness of sorts to the incident. he'd been playing a video game that night just a few feet from the room where his housemate and the quarterback were hanging out when he got a text. >> it said, "oh my god, i think i just got raped. what do i do?" >> reporter: he texted her to come out of the room, which she did. >> she was noticeably distressed. she had tears in her eyes. >> reporter: she then did something you might not expect -- she gave johnson a lift home but when she came back, green heard her crying in the kitchen. >> she told me that he kept pushing and pushing and she said no and that she didn't listen. >> reporter: the next day, she went to a rape crisis center to be evaluated for sexual assault. she reported her alleged assault to both the missoula police and the university. the dean of students thought there was enough evidence to recommend the quarterback's expulsion. athletic director jim o'day

disagreed. >> i said playing football is a privilege. we can take that away from this young man, but let's not ruin his life until we let the proper authorities investigate. >> a major shake up rocks the university of montana this morning. >> reporter: talking back to the dean may have cost him his job, o'day says. the next day he and robin pflugrad, the football coach, were let go and then another shock hit the town. in may 2012, federal investigators descended on missoula based in part on an anonymous title ix complaint. >> the fact that there was an actual outside source coming in and looking at all of this, i felt like something was finally happening. >> reporter: the school's entire track record on handling alleged sexual assaults, not just those by footballs, was under scrutiny. but the feds didn't stop there. they also wanted to know if the missoula police department and the county prosecutor were pursuing sexual assault cases aggressively enough. fred van valkenburg was the missoula county attorney under

fire. >> how did you feel when they felt the need to come in here, and look at you, and what you're doing, and what the police department is doing? >> well, it was a shock. they've never gone after a prosecutor in this fashion before. >> reporter: did their scrutiny have anything to do with what happened next? some thought so. four months after jordan johnson was accused of rape, county attorney van valkenburg decided to file charges against him. >> there had been some rape allegations that hadn't led to charges, and you took criticism for that. was jordan johnson a sacrificial lamb that you thought we have to go forward with this? >> absolutely not. i don't care what anyone says, we did not do this to make somebody a sacrificial lamb or to cave in to pressure. >> reporter: in this case accused and accuser would face off in a very public place. a courtroom. >> coming up -- riveting testimony builds to a dramatic verdict.

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>> reporter: grizzlies star quarterback jordan johnson had been accused of rape. his friends and teammates were shocked. tell me about jordan johnson. what kinda guy is he? >> he is a great guy. very religious. and just an awesome person to be around. >> reporter: jordan johnson maintained his innocence. his trial for rape began almost a year to the day after the alleged assault and if convicted he faced up to 100 years in prison. it seemed like the whole town was watching. emily adamson was a reporter for nbc affiliate kictv at the time. >> they had to hold the jury selection at the holiday inn downtown because there wasn't any room in the courthouse anywhere that was big enough to put all these people. >> reporter: the prosecution's case was simple. the quarterback had forced himself on another student. >> she told him no, but the

defendant get going and in her words, it got real scary real fast. >> reporter: the prosecutor showed photos to the jury a record he said of the injuries she sustained during the assault. he also showed them that text message the woman had sent to her roommate saying, "omg. i think i might have just gotten raped." >> she had the marks on her chest and she had the marks in her psyche that she will carry with her. and that is very, very real. >> reporter: the jurors did get to hear from the woman, although the judge wouldn't let cameras film her face. she insisted she was raped but admitted she hadn't screamed for help and had driven the quarterback home afterwards. >> why weren't you willing to have a confrontation? >> because i just wanted him out of my house. i wasn't prepared for that. i just wanted him gone. >> reporter: the defense team offered a completely different version of events to the jury. >> this is a case that's not

about rape but about a girl's regret. >> reporter: the woman was no victim, according to the defense. she had set her sights on the star quarterback and willingly had sex with him. >> gave him every indication that she was into it. she encouraged him. she participated. she continued. >> reporter: the key witness for the defense was jordan johnson himself. >> tell them why you want to tell your side of the story. >> people deserve to know. >> and you've waited a long time. >> yes. >> reporter: johnson testified that he had been watching a movie with the woman on her bed and they'd started fooling around. one thing led to another. but it was all consensual, he said. >> at what point did she say no? >> she never said no. >> how do you know that? >> because she didn't. i would have heard her and i would have listened to her and i would have stopped. >> reporter: the defense tried to undermine the prosecution's focus on that text the woman sent to her roommate by offering up another one she'd sent to a

friend days later. >> even as she was considering filing her rape charge, she told yet another friend in a text, i don't think he thinks he did anything wrong, to be honest. this is going to hit him like a ton of bricks. do you want to go get some lunch? >> reporter: after listening to nearly three weeks of testimony, it took less than three hours for the jurors to return their verdict. >> we the jury, in all of our number, find the defendant jordan johnson not guilty. >> the courtroom erupted. people were crying. jordan burst into tears. his family burst into tears. >> reporter: and just days later, johnson was reinstated to the football team. >> it's just great to finally feel close to back to normal. to not have that constant worry in the back of your mind and just be able to just relax. >> reporter: and there was some closure for the college town too. the department of justice announced a groundbreaking

agreement with the university. there would be more training for college employees on how to handle reports of sexual assault and a system to track those reports. students would be required to take classes on sexual assault and invited to fill in surveys on how safe they felt on campus u.s. attorney for the district of montana, michael cotter. >> because of this agreement and institutional reforms, all students, men and women, will be safer at the university and in the community. >> reporter: the university of montana had been through the fire and committed itself to change. across the country in boston, jillian was still waiting to find out whether her college was willing to change too. >> coming up -- jillian learns that she'll get another hearing. >> did you do anything differently the second time around? >> oh, my god. oh, my god, yes. >> would the outcome also be

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>> reporter: jillian doherty began her junior year at emerson college in boston with a sense of dread. the school's conduct board had cleared the student she said

raped her. he was back on campus. and she was in limbo waiting for an appeal hearing. she was starting to feel the strain. >> and i constantly felt like i was trying to prove every day that i was telling the truth and i was exhausted. >> reporter: five months after that first hearing, jillian got her chance to appear before the board again. this time she understood what she hadn't before. it was up to her to make her case. >> did you do anything differently the second time around? >> oh, my god. oh, my god, yes. i got a lawyer. a real lawyer. >> reporter: jillian also gave emerson the names of three witnesses to call. the college did things differently too. this time the hearing happened in person and the board members questioned michael arno -- the college administrator who had been investigating jillian's case. since the first hearing he had received additional training in how to investigate and respond to sexual assualt claims. >> it was almost like a real thing finally.

you know it was like okay, this is -- this is acceptable. >> reporter: jillian says arno told the board he thought the accused student was guilty. the student, for his part, testified he had blacked out during the incident and could not positively deny jillian's accusations. the board also heard the testimony of jillian's roommate, someone who had seen her the morning after her alleged assault. >> my roommate did testify that i had bruising marks on my neck. >> and that wasn't in the first hearing? >> no. >> reporter: this time the board found the male student responsible for raping jillian and expelled him. >> after all this time, what's that like hearing that he's been expelled? >> it's like being stuck in like a cave and finding that one ray of light in those few rocks and realizing that there's a way out. >> reporter: but it still wasn't enough to keep her in college. jillian says her experience made her too anxious to stay in school.

she dropped out. jillian and sarah, the emerson student whose rape accusations were dismissed by the college, each filed lawsuits against emerson, accusing the college of violating its federal obligations, negligence and inflicting emotional distress. their lawyer is david angueira >> they want the policies changed in institutions throughout this country. and they want a public apology by emerson, an acknowledgement by emerson, "you know what? we failed you, but it's not going to happen again." that's what they want. >> reporter: emerson declined our request for an on-camera interview but did respond in writing to our questions about sarah and jillian's cases. the college denied the allegations in the lawsuits and said it acted in accordance with the law. when it came to sarah, the college said its investigation was prompt and comprehensive. it denied that the dorm supervisor asked sarah if she was sure she'd been raped or

about her drinking. instead the college says the supervisor was sensitive to sarah and offered her information on available resources and reporting options. the college also denied that michael arno had asked sarah inappropriate questions and that he changed his tone. when it came to jillian's case, emerson said it had imposed the harshest penalty possible on her alleged attacker, expulsion. emerson said in a statement that the college is sympathetic to jillian and that her assault was a tragic and devastating event. emerson's president also sent us this letter outlining a number of steps the college has taken to overhaul its sexual assault policy, saying it is now among the "most progressive and comprehensive in the nation." among other things it has hired a survivor advocate and a full time title ix coordinator. it has stopped using conduct boards and implemented a campus

survey for students. >> schools are obligated to get this right. we're talking about rape. we're talking about a felony offense, a dangerous crime, and dangerous criminals on these campuses. >> reporter: senator kirsten gillibrand is skeptical that colleges can be left to their own devices to solve the problem. >> do you think we're seeing any progress with these colleges starting to be a little more real about what's going on? >> well, over 100 schools are being investigated by the department of education now. so, they have to pay attention to this issue, but i think unfortunately there's an institutional bias. and that bias is to cover these cases up, to shove them under the rug and that has to end. >> reporter: gillibrand introduced the campus accountability and safety act in the senate in february. if it becomes law, it will establish new resources and support services for victims and ensure college and university staff are trained properly. it will also increase fines for colleges who don't accurately

report the number of sexual assault complaints they receive. >> right now, the fines are so small. it's a slap on the wrist for most schools. >> reporter: kevin kruger is president of naspa, an association that represents college administrators. he says colleges are making every effort to improve their response to sexual assault. >> it's expensive. it requires expertise. it requires staffing. but i think it doesn't matter. it's such an important issue that campuses are going to have to find the resources to do this. >> reporter: but he says colleges want to do it the right way. revise their policies in a way that ensures fairness to both the accuser and the accused. >> i can tell you that every campus that i'm aware of is aware of the dynamic tension between how to support the victim and also have a fair process for the accused. >> reporter: as colleges across the country reckon with what justice handed down by a college administrator should look like, annie and andrea and the other advocates say the equation is not really that hard. >> at orientations the message shouldn't be "here's your rape whistle.

watch your drink. don't drink too much, and use the buddy system." it should be, "we take rape seriously on this campus. if you commit it, we will expel you." >> reporter: last month the court dismissed jillian's lawsuit against emerson, ruling that her allegations didn't show the college acted with deliberate indifference to her assault. jillian was back on campus last semester. not as a student but as an activist drawing attention to sexual assault. she thinks emerson's new policies don't go far enough. >> are you gonna fight just as hard as you fought for your case to get back on track, to maybe get back in school one day, to find that career? >> i mean, i'm going to have to because it's not going to be easy. but it would be a real shame to let my life go to waste. so i'm gonna give myself time to heal and just go after whatever it is that i love then. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline."

now stay with us. natalie morales has a new edition of a "dateline" series, "my kid would never do that." >> reporter: some fun-loving kids, a table full of treats and this. he sees it. >> just saw it. >> these kids have all had safety training -- >> today, we're going to talk about guns. >> reporter: -- telling them to walk away and find an adult. but in the heat of the moment -- >> ooh, a gun! >> reporter: -- with a fake gun and hidden cameras everywhere, we put kids to the test. >> so scary. so scary. >> reporter: their parents, nearby in our "watchmobile," eyes glued to every moment. >> i think he might pick it up. i'm just worried about this one. >> reporter: some kids will ace it. >> i'm a proud mama. >> reporter: some won't. >> no, no, no, no!