Published October 15, 2026 at 1:13 PM EDT

Maryland will be looking deeper into how its colleges and universities handle sexual assault.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told the state’s Higher Education Commission to look at how state colleges and universities handle sexual assault in a directive send out Thursday.

The commission is tasked with developing recommendations that will strengthen sexual misconduct policies and bettering reporting.

The commission will work in tandem with the state attorney general.

The recommendations are due in ninety days.

“Our administration’s guiding principle is ensuring the safety and dignity of every Marylander. We protect our people,” the directive states. “Nowhere is that mission more imperative than on our state’s college campuses, where students from every corner of the state, and across the country, come to learn, grow, and prosper. It is our collective moral and legal obligation to provide them with safe and secure learning environments.”

Lisae Jordan, executive director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, says there tis a lot of work that needs to be done to respond to sexual assault on campuses.

"Far too many student survivors face slow and bureaucratic responses when they report sexual misconduct," Jordan said. "After recent changes in the federal Title IX regulations, Maryland also needs to make it very clear that all student organizations --  including all fraternities -- fall under policies to prevent sexual assault and sanction offenders.  Any student-on-student sexual misconduct should be subject to school policies to help survivors and hold offenders accountable, no matter where the assault occurred.  Additionally, our laws should prohibit weak sanctions for serious sexual misconduct and ensure that protecting survivors is a genuine priority."

The directive comes amid national outrage over allegations that seven Cornell University fraternity brothers drugged and assaulted a woman.

The school is under scrutiny for failing to take action.

Cornell has since banned parties and social events at fraternities for the rest of the school year.

It’s also given state police a role in investigating assaults.