Indiana University strives to create a community where people from all backgrounds feel safe, welcomed, and valued equally.
But we can only do it with the support of every IU student, faculty, and staff member.
As a part of the IU community, we count on each other to report incidents. Your report will help IU prevent and respond to student on student incidents.
All incident reports from IU campuses are confidentially reviewed by a team of trained university officials.
Review the steps below to understand the university’s process of assessing and responding to incident reports involving student misconduct.
Note: If the person who reports an incident does not want to move forward with the case or there is too little evidence to justify actions, a case may not move forward to the next step in the process.
Report incidents you experience or witness on your campus. Your report is essential because it enables IU to respond, support those involved, and take preventative measures.
You can report anonymously by submitting an incident report online. You can also report an incident by contacting a campus office.
If you choose to identify yourself, you will be contacted within two business days of submitting a report. If you choose to remain anonymous, the university will follow up as reasonably feasible based on the information provided.
Note: Reporting an incident does not necessarily mean you have to participate or move forward with a complaint under the university’s procedures. If you request that no action be taken, IU will weigh this request against its duty to maintain a safe community.
Retaliation against anyone who has reported an incident, provided information, or participated in a university investigation in response to a reported incident is prohibited by the university and will not be tolerated. The university will take steps to prevent retaliation, and will impose sanctions on anyone or any group who is found to have engaged in retaliation in violation of this policy. Concerns about potential retaliation can also be reported here.
A trained campus representative will:
Many times the complainant wants a university official to be aware of a situation of student misconduct, but does not want to move forward with a formal investigation. And that is ok. In most situations the university is able to honor the complainants request. However, there are rare situations in which the nature of the incident or information known does require the university to proceed to an investigation. In these situations the complainant can chose how involved they are in the process.
When the complainant or university chose to move forward with student misconduct procedures, an investigative officer will be assigned to handle the case.
Incidents involving faculty and staff should be reported to the Office of Institutional Equity.
During an investigation, the officer will determine if the alleged violations of misconduct have merit and/or warrant further investigation or adjudication. The officer, upon the completion of the investigation, will determine the appropriate course of action, which may include, but is not limited to:
A hearing provides an administrative hearing officer or hearing commission the opportunity to:
The administrative hearing office or hearing commission may also consider information relevant to aggravating and mitigating circumstances necessary to administer a sanction if the respondent is found responsible for one or more charges.
Either the complainant or respondent may appeal the hearing decision.
If the facts are not in dispute, the respondent may accept responsibility. The university may issue disciplinary outcomes including, but not limited to, formal warning, probation, suspension, or expulsion. The university may also impose additional sanctions.
In appropriate cases, an alternative resolution may be the outcome, with the consent of both the complainant and respondent. This would take place during the assessment or investigation step. Outcomes are recorded and tracked with the intake data. For reporting purposes, all open incidents are tracked by key milestones throughout the process.
If the respondent denies responsibility, the university will proceed to determine whether or not the respondent is responsible based on the evidence obtained during the investigation.
Both the complainant and the respondent have the option to appeal the disciplinary outcomes. If either party appeals, the case will move on to the appeals process.
The complainant or respondent may appeal the hearing decision to the senior student affairs administrator on the respective campus, or their designee.
To initiate an appeal, the complainant or respondent must send written notice to the designated official. The written notice must include the basis for seeking the appeal and supporting information.
If no written request for an appeal is received by the university within the time specified, the request will not be reviewed, any sanction(s) proposed by the hearing panel will be imposed, and the action will be final.
Complainant: An individual who comes forward to report they’ve experienced an incident of discrimination, harassment, hate, or retaliation against or by a member of the university community or a third party.
In certain circumstances, if the university has determined it is necessary to move forward with a case, the university may serve as the complainant when the alleged victim does not wish to participate.
Respondent: A member of the university who is charged with one or more acts of discrimination, harassment, hate, or retaliation.
