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Although campus climate surveys can be useful for assessing programming and service needs, evaluating services, and generally tracking prevalence rates over time, they aren’t the right option for every institution. This fact sheet describes alternatives that can be used in lieu of climate surveys or in conjunction with climate surveys to better understand sexual misconduct on your campus.

This fact sheet provides resources and tips for why and how to adapt campus climate surveys to meet the unique needs of minority serving institutions and community colleges. The information and general principles are applicable to adapting surveys at any institution, but the examples and the student needs identified apply to these specific types of institutions.

The Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) recently released a report on National Best Practices for Sexual Assault Kits: A Multidisciplinary Approach. The report describes a victim-centered approach to sexual assault cases that positively impacts sexual assault response, the experiences of victims, and ultimately results in safer communities. The report emphasizes the importance of victim engagement. The recommendations call for careful, step-by-step medical-forensic examin...

The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) recently released guidance to its members regarding the use of disciplinary notations on transcripts for institutions that are considering the practice, or are required to do so by legislation. This guidance, drafted by a work group, concludes that institutions of higher education do have the responsibility to notify other institutions of potential threats to their communities from suspended/expelled students and...

Advocates as Campus Security Authorities: Clarification on Victim Advocate Reporting Responsibilities Under the Clery Act  clarifies victim advocate reporting responsibilities as Campus Security Authority (CSA) and how advocates can maintain trust and be a critical resource for students and employees while fulfilling their federal obligations under the Clery Act.

Drawing extensively from the National Judicial Education Program’s publication Judges Tell: What I Wish I Had Known Before I Presided in an Adult Victim Sexual Assault Case , the University of Pennsylvania developed a guide titled Sexual Misconduct Complaints: 17 Tips for Student Discipline Adjudicators, intended for adaptation by individual academic institutions. The guide provides some of the “training . . . in handling complaints of sexual harassment and sexual violence” that the U.S. Departm...

On the week that marked the one-year anniversary of President Obama establishing the White House Task Force to Protect Students, the White House released a document entitled, “Building Partnerships among Law Enforcement Agencies, Colleges and Universities: Developing a Memorandum of Understanding to Prevent and Respond Effectively to Sexual Assault at Colleges and Universities” that provides sample language that may help institutions of higher education and local law enforcement agen...

Safe Horizon, an organization that operates Rape Crisis Programs in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island, created a free booklet for survivors titled “After Sexual Assault: A Recovery Guide for Survivors.” Find suggestions and options for when you or a someone close to you has suffered a sexual assault.

Many parents, schools, and districts have raised questions about this area of civil rights law. Together, these documents will help navigate what may be a new terrain for some. Government resources for transgender and gender-nonconforming students are available on the U.S. Department of Education website.

In addition to the Departments’ joint Title IX guidance, the Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education also released Examples of Policies and Emerging Practices for Supporting Transgender Students, a compilation of policies and practices that schools across the country are already using to support transgender students. The document shares some common questions on topics such as school records, privacy, and terminology, and then explains how some state and school dist...