In the beginning of the fall 2014 term at Columbia University, Zachary, then a senior, had just started dating a fellow student. They were not "boyfriends yet," Zachary said, but they decided to attend an on-campus party together late one Thursday night.

Zachary said they did not stay long at the party and agreed to leave together. They went back to Zachary's date's dorm room. Once they were in private, Zachary said, the male student attempted repeatedly to coerce him into intercourse, and forced Zachary to perform oral sex. He said he experienced throat pain from the incident.

Zachary said he knew he was sexually assaulted, but he held off reporting it because he thought he could deal with it on his own. But in the weeks that followed, he could not avoid seeing the other student around campus, and he continued to feel emotionally uncomfortable. On Oct. 28, 2014, he reported the incident to university officials.

Adding to his hesitation to report the assault, Zacharys knowledge of the process was largely based on what activists had said about how the school mismanages such cases. For instance, in January 2014, the Blue & White student magazine published a story portraying the university as mishandling sexual assault cases filed by three women at the university. Those women, along with 20 others , filed federal complaints against the university three months later. The complaints spawned two investigations that launched around the holiday season.

A week before Zachary's alleged assault, one of the women featured in the Blue & White article and in the complaint, Emma Sulkowicz, announced she would carry a dorm mattress around campus as long as her accused rapist remained at the university.

Initially, Sulkowicz was heralded as a prime example of a survivor-turned-activist, garnering support from politicians, writers and advocacy groups nationwide. The tone of the conversation shifted in December when her alleged assailant, Paul Nungesser, spoke out to declare his innocence. Depending on who the public believed, Sulkowicz was either a heroic victim or a vindictive liar.

As the media drew attention to Sulkowicz's highly visible activism, international focus shifted to Columbia and allegations that the school botched its handling of sexual assault cases.

A HuffPost examination of Zacharys case, as well as those by two others students -- based on hundreds of pages of Columbias investigative reports and emails exchanged between university officials and students -- shows that Sulkowicz's case is not an isolated incident. These documents show that both before and after the investigation of Sulkowicz's alleged sexual assault, Columbia has taken missteps in handling other cases, failing to adhere to federal guidance and standards.

Several of the students who spoke candidly about their cases with The Huffington Post for this story did so on the condition of anonymity, to protect their privacy.

Video produced and edited by Jon Strauss, graphics by Adam Glucksman. (Cover photo by Jon Strauss/The Huffington Post)

60 Days

Title IX, the federal law that mandates gender equality in education, advises sexual assault cases be fully resolved within 60 days of the initial reporting. Columbia's policy goes further, stating that investigations will take no longer than 30 days and that once the investigation is over, a hearing will wrap up a case two weeks later.

According to university documents, Zachary's case took seven months. In another case from 2014, a transgender Columbia sophomore said xe* waited over six months for the investigation to be resolved. And, Sarah, a rising senior, filed two sexual assault cases in 2013. One took four months to resolve; the other took six.

Though breaks in the academic year can present scheduling challenges, college officials can continue communications through email, Skype or on the phone, said Djuna Perkins, an independent consultant at DP Law firm in Dedham, Massachusetts, who has been hired by other universities to investigate sexual assault cases. Taking seven months to investigate a case is too long and problematic, she said.

The accused student in Zachary's case also complained about the lengthy investigation, calling it "absolutely ridiculous." The student, who has not been charged with any crime, told HuffPost the encounter was entirely consensual, something Zachary clearly disputes. But the accused said the lengthy process complicated his life, like it did for Zachary, since they were in the same academic community and participated in similar extracurricular activities.

*The student prefers the pronouns xe, xim and xir.

Maintaining Confidentiality

After a student files a sexual assault complaint at Columbia, the university requires the accuser and the accused to adhere to strict privacy rules, meaning neither students may discuss the case with other students in person, online or through third parties. Students commonly refer to this practice as "a gag order."

In real-world situations this practice leaves alleged victims in potentially vulnerable situations. For instance, both Zachary and Sarah, over the course of their investigations, attended parties where their alleged assailants were also present. But because of the gag order, they weren't able to seek out a friend to whom they could confide about their discomfort.