PSU strives to address sexual harassment, which includes sexual assault, domestic & dating violence and stalking, in a trauma informed manner. This means that people impacted by sexual harassment are provided resources to assist them in addressing sexual harassment in the manner that is best for the person who experienced the harassment. PSU requires all faculty and most staff to report any incident of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating and domestic violence or gender-based stalking that they become aware of. The purpose of reporting the matter is to make sure the University provides the impacted person with resources and available complaint processes. If the matter pertains to a student, a referral may be made to PSU CARES. Otherwise, you may report the matter to PSU’s Title IX Coordinator by emailing her at titleixcoordinator@pdx.edu. Please make sure you inform the person who has disclosed being sexually harassed that you have an obligation to report it to university officials who will keep the information private. If necessary, a Title IX Coordinator or someone from the Dean of Student Life will contact you with any follow up information.
The PSU Prohibited Discrimination and Harassment Policy (Section V. 2.) and Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy (Definitions section: Responsible Employee) list the following positions as having reporting obligations:
- Any Dean, Chair or Chair Equivalent or Director of an academic department,
- faculty member, instructor, academic advisor, Graduate Teaching Assistant, University Studies mentor,
- any employee in the athletics department, including Athletics Director, Assistant Athletics Director, coach, assistant coach, and trainer
- employee in University Housing and Residence Life (UHRL), Resident Assistant, Learning Community Assistant, or Residential Academic Mentor in UHRL,
- Chief of Police, Police Officers, Public Safety Officers, Dispatchers and any other employee of the Campus Public Safety Office (CPSO)
- supervisor, manager, or University Official with the title of Director or higher.
There are professional roles on campus that require employees to have confidential status, including confidential advocates, employees in Student Health and Counseling and Student Legal Services. Employees in confidential roles will not report an incident of sexual harassment unless the impacted person provides written authorization.
Student Notification
We encourage staff and faculty to notify students of their reporting obligations in all student or employee training materials, course syllabi and in individual conversations (if it appears a student may be about to share personal information). A potential template you could use to let the student know of your reporting obligations would be:
"Thank you for coming to talk to me. Before you start talking to me about anything sensitive, I want to make sure you know that I have certain reporting obligations as a faculty/staff member. I am obligated to report to university officials any information I receive about discrimination or harassment, including sexual harassment and sexual misconduct/assault. If you would like to speak to someone confidentially at PSU then you can:
- Speak with a Confidential Advocate in the Women’s Resource Center and/or Queer Resource Center;
- Go to the Center Student Health and Counseling (SHAC), or
- Go to Student Legal Services."
Student Resources
There are a range of support options for students, including confidential services. If you suspect a student needs support, please provide them with this printable resource list.
Faculty Assistance
If you have any questions about reporting obligations, please contact the Title IX Coordinator at titleixcoordinator@pdx.edu.