SALT LAKE CITY — Federal education officials have launched an investigation of how Brigham Young University handles reports of sexual assault — the latest fallout from female students and alumni speaking out against the Mormon-owned school’s practice of opening honor code investigations of students who report abuses.

BYU said in a news release that it found out Thursday it was joining a list of more than 200 schools that are under investigation by the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights for sexual violence investigations. University officials said the probe stems from a report filed this spring, but they declined to provide more specifics.

The BYU investigation was opened on Aug. 4 looking into sexual harassment and sexual violence and retaliation, US Department of Education press secretary Dorie Turner Nolt said.

The results could threaten federal funding and BYU’s ability to provide federal financial aid to students.

The Utah Department of Public Safety is already investigating whether campus police properly report sexual assault cases.

The scrutiny comes as the school’s athletic department jockeys to become an expansion member of the Big 12 conference, a lucrative Power Five conference that is considering many schools who want to join it.

An LGBTQ advocacy group has urged the Big 12 to remove BYU from consideration because the school has discriminatory policies. BYU officials say LGBT people are welcome at the school.

Associated Press