Requesting Confidentiality

If a victim discloses an incident to a responsible employee but wishes to maintain confidentiality or requests that no investigation into a particular incident be conducted or disciplinary action taken, the College must weigh that request against the College’s obligation to provide a safe, non-discriminatory environment for all students, including the victim. If the College honors the request for confidentiality, a victim must understand that the College’s ability to meaningfully investigate the incident and pursue disciplinary action against the accused may be limited. Although rare, there are times when the College may not be able to honor a victim’s request in order to provide a safe, non-discriminatory environment for all students. The College has designated the following individual(s) to evaluate requests for confidentiality once a responsible employee is on notice of alleged sexual violence:

Dean of Students

Provost

Requests for Confidentiality

When weighing a victim’s request for confidentiality or that no investigation or discipline be pursued, the Dean of Students and Provost will consider a range of factors, including the following:

The increased risk that the accused will commit additional acts of sexual or other violence, such as:

• whether there have been other sexual violence complaints about the same accused individual;
• whether the accused has a history of arrests or records from a prior school indicating a history of violence;
• whether the accused threatened further sexual violence or other violence ar against the victim or others;
• whether the sexual violence was committed by multiple perpetrators;
• whether the sexual violence was perpetrated with a weapon;
• whether the victim is a minor;
• whether the College possesses other means to obtain relevant evidence of the sexual violence (e.g., security cameras or personnel, physical evidence);
• whether the victim’s report reveals a pattern of perpetration (e.g., via illicit use of drugs or alcohol) at a given location or by a particular group

The presence of one or more of these factors could lead the College to investigate and, if appropriate, pursue disciplinary action. If none of these factors is present, the College will likely respect the victim’s request for confidentiality. If the College determines that it cannot maintain a victim’s confidentiality, the College will inform the victim prior to starting an investigation and will, to the extent possible, only share information with people responsible for handling the College’s response. The College will remain ever mindful of the victim’s well-being, and will take ongoing steps to protect the victim from retaliation or harm and work with the victim to create a safety plan. Retaliation against the victim, whether by students or College employees, will not be tolerated.

Crisis Services and off-campus healthcare providers will generally maintain confidentiality unless a student signs a consent or waiver form allowing the providers to disclose the report.