Seek input and collaboration from reporting students and their advocates. 

Work together to solicit and incorporate victims'/survivors' and advocates' input about the school's actions related to IPV prevention and response, with respect for the confidentiality of all parties involved. 

Address Victim/Survivor Confidentiality & Privacy

Institutions must identify how the Institution will protect the confidentiality of victims/survivors, including how publicly-available record-keeping will be accomplished without the inclusion of identifying information about the victim/survivor, to the extent permissible by law.

Policies should address the following:

• Need to Know - Clearly state that only individuals who have a need to know, or to whom the victim/survivor has provided information, will have access to information about the notification and/or police report and resulting investigation(s). Materials and information should be shared only as necessary with investigators, witnesses, and other relevant parties. If the victim/survivor wishes to withdraw consent to share information with a certain party, that request should be honored. 
  
  A more public disclosure of general information about a case may be made if it is determined that such disclosure is necessary due to serious and imminent threat to the community. In these events, the victim’s/survivor’s name and identifying information should not be included.

• Serious and Imminent Threat - Explain that while any request made by a victim/survivor that a matter not be investigated should be taken into account, appropriate steps should be taken to respond to the matter in cases of serious and imminent threat to the community.

• Confidential Resources - Inform victims/survivors of the confidential resources available to them both on campus and in the community. State that victims/survivors can seek assistance from off-campus crisis centers, which can maintain confidentiality. Include names of and contact information for these centers. It is highly recommended that institutions designate confidential resources for victims/survivors to increase the likelihood that they will choose to report and/or notify the institution of an incident. Additionally, proactively training confidential resources in the institution’s policies is vital to their ability to help victims/survivors navigate the reporting and adjudication processes.

• Non-confidential/Obligation to Report - Clearly state which types of staff and faculty members are not confidential resources and therefore have an obligation to inform campus authorities of any reports of IPV, stalking, or sexual violence. Provide clear links to campus reporting forms, and information on where staff and faculty can direct questions about their duty to report.

Inform Students of Reporting Options

Examples of information that must be shared with students regarding how to report abuse to and/or notify the college/university:

• Students’ options to notify the institution of IPV or other abuse, and what will happen after they report

• Students’ options to file a report with law enforcement and what will happen after they report

• Clear definitions of prohibited conduct in the policy so that students are able to identify their experiences as misconduct

• A list of those to whom students can confidentially disclose their experience(s)

• A list of which positions generally are not confidential, such as “responsible employees” and Campus Security Advisors.

• A statement that encourages students to report any IPV, stalking, or sexual violence offenses to receive support and assistance, while clarifying that the victim/survivor has the right to decline to notify the Title IX office and to report to campus police (and the right to decline participation in a resulting investigation if someone else reports).

Various types of reports and notifications and the procedures for filing them:

• Anonymous – A system that allows for victims/survivors and third-parties to notify the institution of incidents via an online or written form. It is helpful if these reports are sent to confidential employees so they can redact identifying information if necessary. Include a section where someone can request follow up without triggering a notification to police or school administration.
  
  An anonymous pathway for submitting paperwork to the institution encourages disclosures by students without risking exposure or being forced to file charges. Police cannot make an arrest based on an anonymous notification, but can still receive useful information regarding the types of assaults that are occurring at the institution.

• Confidential – Disclosures made to employees who have no requirements to notify the institution -- with the ethical and legal exception of potential harm to self or others, or the abuse of a child or an elderly/vulnerable adult.

• Formal – A notification to the institution which may result in an investigation through the student disciplinary process.

• Non-confidential – Disclosures made to individuals who must share with the Title IX coordinator all known information, including the nature, date, time, and general location of the incident, and the identities of the victim(s)/survivor(s) and alleged perpetrator(s). If the reporting party requests confidentiality, the recipient of the disclosure must convey that request to the Title IX Coordinator; however, confidentiality is not promised or guaranteed.

• Quasi-confidential (for meeting Clery reporting requirements) – Disclosures made in which the recipient must provide to the Title IX coordinator the following information: the nature, date, time, and general location of an incident, if known, but no information that would directly or indirectly identify the reporting party(ies) or victim(s)/survivor(s).

• Third-party – The option, often anonymous, for witnesses or acquaintances of those involved in the incident to notify the institution of the abuse.

Designate Each Employee’s Reporting Status

Employees have certain responsibilities based on their positions, and institutions should designate and clearly outline those responsibilities.

Responsible Employees

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) requires that certain employees on campus be deemed Responsible Employees.

A school must make clear to all of its employees and students which staff members are responsible employees so that students can make informed decisions about whether to disclose information to those employees.

A school must also inform all employees of their own reporting responsibilities and the importance of informing the reporting party of:

• The obligations of responsible employees to notify the institution;

• Reporting parties’ option to request confidentiality and available confidential advocacy, counseling, or other support services;

• Reporting parties’ right to file a Title IX complaint with the school and to report a crime to campus or local law enforcement.

When a responsible employee knows or reasonably should know of possible IPV, stalking, or sexual violence, OCR deems a school to have been put on notice of the violence. The school must take immediate and appropriate steps to investigate or otherwise determine what occurred (subject to the confidentiality provisions), and, if the school determines that the violence created a hostile environment, the school must then take appropriate steps to address the situation. (‘Addressing the situation’ can but does not necessarily mean adjudication of a specific incident.)

Confidential* and Private Employees

Confidential Employees - This includes those whose job responsibility it is to provide medical or mental-health counseling to members of the school community (and including those who act in that role under the supervision of a licensed counselor), including:

• Medical professionals

• Professional, licensed counselors

• Pastoral/faith-based counselors

These people are not required or are legally unable to share any information about an incident of abuse with the Title IX coordinator without a victim’s/survivor’s permission. Those persons identified by their institution as Confidential Employees should clarify the extent of the requirements of their confidential status with their supervisor.

Private Employees - Campus Non-professional Counselors and Advocates: Individuals who work or volunteer in the on-campus sexual/relationship violence center, victim/survivor advocacy office, women’s center, health center etc., including front desk staff and students**, can generally talk to a victim/survivor without revealing any personally identifying information about an incident to the institution.

This, however, will depend on the institution’s designation of confidential versus private reporting sources, as well as potential state laws. A victim/survivor can disclose to and seek assistance from these individuals without activating an investigation that could reveal their identity.

Responsibility to file limited reports: These individuals do not have to release identifying information about a victim/survivor, but are mandated to report the nature, date, time and general location of an incident to the office responsible for collecting Clery (statistical) information about crimes on campus. This limited report includes NO information that would directly or indirectly identify the victim/survivor. It helps keep the university informed of the general extent and nature of gender-based violence on and off campus in order to track patterns, evaluate the scope of the problem, and formulate appropriate campus-wide responses. Before reporting any information to the Title IX Coordinator or Clery Compliance Officer, these individuals will advise the victim/survivor that the information will be reported but that no personally identifying details will be shared.

* There are always exceptions to confidentiality, particularly if there is risk of serious harm to self or others.

Outline Statistical Reporting Requirements and Confidentiality

Colleges and universities are required to maintain a good faith effort to collect and report statistics for IPV and stalking.

Institutions must collect statistics from a broad range of campus officials, identified as Campus Security Authorities (CSA). The Clery Act defines a CSA as:

• A campus police department or a campus security department of an institution.

• Any individual or individuals who have responsibility for campus security but who do not constitute a campus police department or a campus security department, such as an individual who is responsible for monitoring entrance into institutional property.

• Any individual or organization specified in an institution's statement of campus security policy as an individual or organization to which students and employees should report criminal offenses.

• An official of an institution who has significant responsibility for student and campus activities, including, but not limited to, student housing, student discipline, and campus judicial proceedings. If such an official is a pastoral or professional counselor as defined below, the official is not considered a CSA when acting as a pastoral or professional counselor.

A Note on the Reporting Responsibilities of Pastoral and Professional Counselors - from Questions and Answers on Title IX and Sexual Violence:

“The exemption from reporting obligations for pastoral and professional counselors under Title IX is consistent with the Clery Act. For additional information on reporting obligations under the Clery Act, see Office of Postsecondary Education, Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting (2011), available at http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/handbook.pdf.
Similar to the Clery Act, for Title IX purposes, a pastoral counselor is a person who is associated with a religious order or denomination, is recognized by that religious order or denomination as someone who provides confidential counseling, and is functioning within the scope of that recognition as a pastoral counselor. 

A professional counselor is a person whose official responsibilities include providing mental health counseling to members of the institution’s community and who is functioning within the scope of his or her license or certification. This definition applies even to professional counselors who are not employees of the school, but are under contract to provide counseling at the school. This includes individuals who are not yet licensed or certified as a counselor, but are acting in that role under the supervision of an individual who is licensed or certified. An example is a Ph.D. counselor-trainee acting under the supervision of a professional counselor at the school. 

Postsecondary institutions should be aware that an individual who is counseling students, but who does not meet the Clery Act definition of a pastoral or professional counselor, is not exempt from being a campus security authority if he or she otherwise has significant responsibility for student and campus activities.”

Examples of individuals who meet the criteria  for CSA are:

• A dean of students who oversees student housing, a student center, or student extracurricular activities.

• A director of athletics, a team coach, or a faculty advisor to a student group.

• A student resident advisor or assistant or a student who monitors access to dormitories.

• A coordinator of Greek affairs.

• A physician in a campus health center

• A counselor in a campus counseling center or a victim/survivor advocate or sexual violence response team in a campus rape crisis center.

If these individuals are not identified as people to whom crimes should be reported or do not have significant responsibility for student and campus activities, they would not be considered CSAs. They would only qualify as a CSA if they are identified by your school as someone to whom crimes should be reported or if they have significant responsibility for student and campus activities.

Examples of individuals who would not meet the criteria for being CSAs include:

• A faculty member who does not have any responsibility for student and campus activity beyond the classroom.

• Clerical or cafeteria staff.

In addition, the law does not limit an institution from more broadly identifying who are CSAs for each college/university in order to obtain a more comprehensive representation of crime on campus. The law requires shielding personally identifying information of victims/survivors in order to protect the confidentiality of victims/survivors in these statistical disclosures. The law also requires shielding personally identifying information in record keeping (such as records stored in locked, non-moveable file cabinets) to the extent provided by law.