Institutions of higher education (IHEs) must have a resolution process to address incidents of gender-based misconduct, including sexual assault, stalking, and dating and domestic violence. Within a resolution process, there are typically three general areas of action once a complaint has been filed: gathering information, exploring the information, and evaluating the information. This guide focuses on one aspect of the evaluative portion of the resolution process addressing issues of student misconduct, specifically related to sanctioning.
Tag: Domestic Violence
Being Deliberate: for Deciding Sanctions in Cases of Gender-based Misconduct at Institutions of Higher Education
Where to Start: Drafting, Implementing, and Enforcing No Contact Orders for Victims of Gender-Based Violence on Campuses
The Victim Rights Law Center’s “Where to Start” series is a resource for administrators seeking to address gender-based violence at institutions of higher education (IHEs) across the country. In VRLC’s experience working with students as well as institutions nationally, a “one size fits all” approach to addressing it often fails to meet the needs of both students and administrators. Every campus is unique, as is each jurisdiction, or territory, thus the information in this series serves as a guide. It is intended to begin a conversation on your campus which will help you identify current gaps and decisions you need to make in order to close those gaps. The goal of the series is to create an informed, appropriate, and consistent response to gender-based violence on your campus that contemplates the size, culture, resources, and specific needs of your institution. As you begin to utilize this series, please keep in mind that the information provided is not legal advice and that you should always consult with a local attorney, your general counsel, or jurisdictional laws if you have questions. Please note that throughout this series we use the term “gender-based violence” to refer to dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
Advisor Checklist
This resource is meant to be adaptable to your institution as an OVW Campus Grant Program grantee and provided to all parties and advisors in a campus resolution process addressing allegations of dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. Before distribution, you should update the language and links to ensure the accuracy of information as it pertains to your institution. You may also consider requesting that the advisor sign or otherwise indicate receipt of this form depending on who typically serves as advisors at your institution. This checklist can be provided as an electronic document or hard copy, depending on the accessibility needs of your campus community and parties in a case.
Glossary of Criminal Justice Terms for Campus Partners
Understanding is critical to ensure successful communication between campus public safety/law enforcement and coordinated community response team (CCRT) members. Communication between partners allows for a more expedient and trauma informed response to all Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking (DVSAS) crimes. We hope this glossary is a valuable resource for sharing knowledge and ensuring all partners have a common understanding of terms and concepts specific to campus public safety/law enforcement.
Glossary of Criminal Justice Terms for Campus Partners
Understanding is critical to ensure successful communication between campus public safety/law enforcement and coordinated community response team (CCRT) members. Communication between partners allows for a more expedient and trauma-informed response to all Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking (DVSAS) crimes. We hope this glossary is a valuable resource for sharing knowledge and ensuring all partners have a common understanding of terms and concepts specific to campus public safety/law enforcement.
Safety Planning: For Students Responsible for Sexual Misconduct on Campus
This guide is designed to offer campus staff a tool to explore a similar Safety Planning process for responsible students, student who have/or concerned about engaging in sexual misconduct. Safety Planning is the process of developing a structured plan to identify specific boundaries, strategies and supports to reduce risk of causing harm. Through this overview, the reader will learn about the resources, research and knowledge needed to implement a plan; and, most of all, assess whether this is a process that makes sense for a particular student, situation, and campus.
Dating violence activism and digital safety
A healthy dating relationship involves feeling respected, having space for your own interests and development as an individual, and making your own decisions about your body, personal expression, and devices. To learn more about psychological, physical, sexual, and digital dating violence, see Esperanza United’s teen dating factsheet and our Sexual minority Latin@ youth and gender-based violence factsheet.
How to set boundaries
Whether you’re casually having sex, just started dating, or are in a committed relationship, setting and respecting boundaries is essential to any and every relationship. It’s important that partners feel comfortable expressing their wants, goals, fears, and limits, and everyone’s boundaries are honored. That means everyone feels comfortable communicating their needs without fear of what another person will do in response.
Strengthening Student Engagement: Campus Strategies for Addressing Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking (DVSAS)
This resource explores how campuses can center the needs of student survivors while deepening their understanding of how students’ lived experiences shape their experiences with domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking (DVSAS). It also underscores why approaching student engagement through a survivor-centered lens is essential to strengthening outreach, improving responses, and supporting overall student well-being.
We Build This Together: Puerto Rico’s Approaches and Practices to Campus Prevention, Healing, and Belonging
Developed through virtual site visits conducted in May 2025, this toolkit highlights the work of three powerful initiatives in Puerto Rico: Construyendo Equidad entre Géneros and SIEMPREVIVAS at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM) and UPR Río Piedras (UPRRP), as well as Coordinadora Paz para las Mujeres (Puerto Rico Dual Coalition). Together, these organizations offer meaningful examples of campus-based prevention, survivor-centered healing, and community-rooted approaches to fostering belonging. This toolkit invites grantees to pause and reflect on what prevention could look like on their campuses if it were truly shaped by students’ needs, identities, and lived experiences.