Reporting

All forms of sexual violence should be reported, no matter the severity. Oklahoma State University’s primary concern is safety; therefore, individuals should not be deterred from reporting even if the use of alcohol or other drugs was involved. The university has a Good Samaritan policy, which provides amnesty for minor conduct violation to students involved in a more serious incident.

The university encourages those involved in an incident to talk to someone about what happened so that they can receive support and so the university can respond appropriately. Both confidential and non-confidential reporting options are available.

Under state law, some faculty or staff can assure confidentiality for a victim, including counselors and victim advocates. In general, however, any other university employee cannot guarantee complete confidentiality, unless specifically provided by law. The university must balance the needs of the individual victim with an obligation to protect the safety and well-being of the community. 

Faculty and staff may have different responsibilities regarding confidentiality, depending on their position. For example:

• Some are required to maintain near complete confidentiality; talking to them is sometimes called a “privileged communication.”
• Other employees may talk to a victim in confidence and generally report only that an incident occurred without revealing any personally identifying information. Disclosures to these employees will not trigger a university investigation into an incident against the victim’s wishes. This report is done through a Clery Report and does not include the victim’s name or other identifying information.
• Some employees are required to report all the details of an incident (including the identities of both the victim and alleged perpetrator) to the Title IX Coordinator or Deputy Coordinator.

Confidential vs. Non-Confidential

Confidential services provide students with the ability to confidentially share and discuss an instance of sexual violence, without their information being shared with others. Please note that confidential services limits the university’s ability to respond to incidents.

Non-confidential reporting may include the victim's name which can be shared among appropriate university employees. A responsible employee should not share information about the victim to law enforcement unless a victim requests the employee to do so.  

The Board of Regents for Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges and the Clery Act require all employees (excluding counselors, health care providers and victim advocates) who become aware of an instance of sexual violence to report the instance to OSU Police and victim advocates. The victim’s name should not be reported to the police without the victim’s permission. The report should include the nature, date, time and general location of an incident. This is a limited report that includes no information that would directly or indirectly identify the victim. This allows for the university to track patterns and develop appropriate campus-wide responses.

Confidential Services

Here are some confidential services you can report to:

While these professionals, non-professional counselors, health providers or victim advocates may maintain a victim’s confidentiality, they may have reporting or other obligations under state law, such as mandatory reporting to law enforcement in case of minors, imminent harm to self or others or requirement to testify if subpoenaed in a criminal case.

Non-Confidential Reporting

Requests for No Action

When Student Support & Conduct is made aware of an alleged sexual violence situation, a victim will be sent resources via their university email address.

If there is no response from the victim, Student Support & Conduct will contact the alleged individual(s), if known, to discuss the concern and educate on sexual violence prevention.  The information collected will be documented.

If the victim requests that no action be taken, Student Support & Conduct and the university must weigh that request against the obligation to provide a safe environment for all students, including the victim. 

No action requests could include the following:

• A request to not contact the alleged individual(s).
• A request for no investigation from the university.
• A request for no conduct action to be taken.

If the university honors the request for no action, a victim must understand that the university’s ability to meaningfully investigate and respond to the incident may be limited.

Although rare, there are times when the university may not be able to honor a victim’s request in order to provide a safe environment for all students.  When weighing a victim’s request for no action the following will be considered:

• whether the sexual violence was committed by multiple respondents.
• whether the alleged respondent threatened further sexual violence or other violence against the victim or others.
• whether the alleged respondent has a history of arrests or records from a prior school indicating a history of violence.
• whether there have been other sexual violence complaints about the same alleged respondent.
• whether the alleged respondent will commit additional acts of sexual or other violence.
• whether the sexual violence was perpetrated with a weapon.
• whether the victim is a minor.
• whether the respondent participates in university-approved student activities (e.g., athletics, band, ROTC, etc.).
• whether the university possesses other means to obtain relevant information of the sexual violence (e.g., security cameras, 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 university to investigate and, if appropriate, pursue conduct action.  If none of these factors is present, the university will likely respect the victim’s request for no action.

If determined that the university cannot maintain a victim’s confidentiality, the university will inform the victim prior to starting an investigation. The university will remain ever mindful of the victim’s well-being  and will take ongoing steps to protect the victim from retaliation or harm. The university will work with the victim to create a safety plan, however the victim may not be required to participate in any investigation or conduct process. Retaliation against the victim, whether by students or university employees, will not be tolerated.

Reporting to the Police

The university strongly encourages individuals to report sexual violence and any other criminal offenses to the police. This does not commit a victim to prosecute but will allow the gathering of information and evidence. The information and evidence preserve future options regarding criminal prosecution, university conduct actions and/or civil actions against the perpetrator.

If the incident happened elsewhere, it should be reported to the local law enforcement within the jurisdiction of the location where it occurred.

Please know that the information reported can be helpful in supporting other reports and preventing further incidents.

Reporting to OSU Police:

Reporting to Stillwater Police:

Reporting to Student Support & Conduct

Anyone can report instances of sexual violence to Student Support & Conduct in 328 Student Union or at 405-744-5470. A complaint should be filed as soon as possible. A complaint can be filed online at http://ssc.okstate.edu or in person in the office of Student Support & Conduct.

If either the victim or the respondent is a student, the incident will be addressed through the Student Support & Conduct process once a complaint is filed.

The university strongly encourages individuals to report any instance of sexual violence to the police.

Victim's Bill of Rights