Title IV Reporting Options

All employees at Rockford University who are not Confidential Employees are Responsible Employees. They are required to notify the Title IX Coordinator or Deputy Title IX Coordinator if they have information about conduct that may reasonably constitute sex discrimination, including sex-based harassment. Such information includes all details of an incident, including the identities of the reporting party, Complainant, and Respondent, if known.

Therefore, talking with any non-Confidential Employee constitutes a report to the College and will therefore be shared with the University Title IX Coordinator.

Responsible Employees include (but are not limited to):
• Deans and Vice Presidents
• Faculty Members and Advisors
• Staff
• Resident Advisors
• Graduate Assistants
• Members of Rockford University ’s Administrative Staff
• Coaches

Responsible Employees are expected to make every effort to explain their duty to report to anyone disclosing, or about to disclose, information to them.

Rockford University encourages anyone who has experienced sex discrimination or sex-based harassment to pursue criminal action for incidents that may also be crimes under applicable criminal statutes. Law enforcement officers are trained in handling sexual assault and other cases involving sex-based harassment. Reporting to law enforcement does not require prosecution of the offense and the reporting party’s wishes will be taken into account by law enforcement. The police report and any supporting evidence may be turned over to the appropriate Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office, which decides whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute. Information about the law enforcement process of reporting, the investigation, arrests, filing of charges, hearings, the trial and sentencing will be explained at the time of the report.

The University employees will assist the reporting party in contacting local law enforcement, if explicitly requested by the reporting party. However, reporting an incident of sex discrimination or sex-based harassment to the University does not in any way equate to reporting the incident to local law enforcement. An individual may decide to report an incident exclusively to Rockford University, exclusively to local law enforcement, or to both the University and local law enforcement.

In case of emergency, call 911.

The local police department is the City of Rockford Police Department. Should an individual report an incident of sex discrimination or sex-based harassment to both the University and local law enforcement, the University will comply with law enforcement requests for cooperation. Such cooperation may require Rockford to temporarily suspend its own investigation into the alleged incident while local law enforcement gathers evidence. During this time, the University will continue to offer Supportive Measures to the Parties. As soon as local law enforcement or the University determines that a delay is no longer necessary, Rockford will promptly resume its Title IX or other internal investigation.

Rockford University policy, definitions, and standard of proof differ from state criminal law. Neither law enforcement’s determination whether to prosecute a Respondent nor the outcome of any criminal prosecution will determine whether sex discrimination or sex-based harassment has occurred under this Rockford University policy. Proceedings under this policy may be carried out prior to, simultaneously with or following civil or criminal proceedings off campus. In addition to the foregoing, all faculty and staff who become aware of or suspect sexual abuse of a minor (under the age of 17) must report that information to local law enforcement and/or the Title IX Coordinator who shall then inform local, state and/or federal law enforcement officials of such incident as required by law.

Rockford University permits anonymous parties to report alleged incidents of sex discrimination, sex-based harassment, and retaliation by telephone, mail, email, or the Incident Report Form to the Title IX Office. 

If the anonymous report contains the identity of the Complainant, upon receipt of the report, the Title IX Coordinator will contact the Complainant to offer Supportive Measures and explain the process for making a Complaint. However, if the anonymous report does not contain the identity of the Complainant, Rockford University will be unable to contact the Complainant to offer supportive measures. While the Title IX Coordinator will keep confidential Complainant’s identity (unless disclosing the Complainant’s identity is necessary to provide supportive measures for the Complainant, such as issuing no-contact orders), the Title IX Coordinator must know the identity of the Complainant to offer such Supportive Measures.

All anonymous reports will go to the Title IX Coordinator for review. EthicsPoint is a service that allows anyone to report suspected misconduct or other issues with complete anonymity or confidentiality. This service allows the person making the report and University administrators to confer about additional details, while the reporting party’s identity remains anonymous and unknown to the University.

EthicsPoint utilizes its own secure servers, outside of the University network, as well as their own call center. While the reports will be forwarded to University administrators for appropriate review and action, the source of all reports submitted to EthicsPoint will remain confidential and will not be shared with University administrators without your permission.

If you wish to report a violation of this policy but would like your information to remain confidential (and therefore not reported to the Title IX Coordinator), you may choose to report to a Confidential Employee.

Confidential Employees (including Confidential Advisors) are University employees with whom an individual can have a privileged communication. Privileged communications cannot legally be disclosed to another person without the consent of the individual who originally provided the information, except under very limited circumstances such as allegations involving the physical or sexual abuse of a child or vulnerable adult or an imminent threat to the life of any person.

Rockford University ’s confidential resources are listed as follows:

• Rockford University’s Lang Center for Health, Wellness, & Counseling (Professional Counselors and Health Services Staff)
Location: Lang Center is located between Colman Library and Cummings Residence
Complex Phone: 815-226-3335 / E-Mail: HealthCenter@rockford.edu

• Rockford University’s Confidential Advisor is Rockford Sexual Assault Counseling. RSAC can provide emergency and ongoing support for concerns of sexual assault. They provide counseling, and support services. The Title IX Coordinator trains their staff yearly about campus procedures and protocols. The Confidential Advisor does not disclose any information regarding like students served. They will, however, provide aggregate numbers for parties seen who are part of the University community.

If the Title IX Coordinator is notified of information about conduct that reasonably may constitute sex-based harassment under this Policy that was provided by a person during a public event to raise awareness about sex-based harassment that was held on Rockford University’s campus or through an online platform sponsored by the University, Rockford University does not consider such information a report or Complaint. Therefore, the University is not obligated to act in response to the information, unless it indicates an imminent and serious threat to the health or safety of a Complainant, any students, employees, or other persons.