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If you have been the victim of sexual assault, domestic/relationship violence, stalking, or another form of sexual misconduct like voyeurism, the University encourages you to consider making a report to police to assure your safety and / or to explore your options, including pursuing a criminal investigation. Reporting to police does not guarantee criminal prosecution, since the state’s attorneys (prosecutors) will ultimately have to decide whether there is enough evidence to move forward with your case. However, if you file a police report and want to pursue a criminal case, the police will conduct an investigation. It is important to consider that perpetrators can be repeat offenders, so reporting the behavior to police increases the chances that a perpetrator will be recognized as such, increasing the safety of our campus as a whole.

¶¶Òõ̽̽ also encourages you to make a report of the incident to the University Title IX Coordinator. ¶¶Òõ̽̽ strives to create a safe campus environment, and any violation of the Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct Policy has a negative impact on the campus community. However, it is difficult for the University to address problems like sexual misconduct unless victims are willing to come forward. Reports to the Title IX Coordinator can be made by emailing TitleIX@uvm.edu or by filing a .

When you make a report of sexual misconduct, discrimination, or harassment, the first step is an intake, which includes providing you with information about support resources and reporting options, and more information about the Title IX Investigation and Resolution options and processes. These are described in detail from Office of Equal Opportunity.

If you would like, you can pursue both a criminal and an internal investigation. ¶¶Òõ̽̽’s Office of Equal Opportunity will try to coordinate its internal investigation with the related police investigation as much as possible. To avoid interfering with the criminal investigation, the Office of Equal Opportunity investigator may ask you to sign a waiver, which will delay the internal investigation until the criminal investigation is complete. If you decide not to sign it, the Office of Equal Opportunity investigation may have to occur at the same time as the criminal investigation. Under some circumstances, this could interfere with the criminal investigation.

If you disclose an incident of sexual misconduct to a ¶¶Òõ̽̽ Reporter, they must notify the Title IX Coordinator, whose office will reach out to you to offer support and resources. The Title IX Coordinator is responsible for making sure that the University complies with its obligations to address incidents of sexual misconduct appropriately, and that the University does everything that it can 1) to minimize the impact of any alleged sexual misconduct on the educational and/or work environment, and 2) to prevent it from happening again.

It is important to understand that you are not obligated to pursue an investigation or resolution process to work with the Title IX Coordinator or receive support and/or interim measures (such as schedule or housing adjustments). In most cases, if you decide that you do not want to pursue a formal investigation, nothing further will happen.

However, there are some circumstances where the University will move forward with an investigation and conduct process even without your cooperation. Some examples include 1) cases where the University is aware that the perpetrator has been involved in other incidents of sexual misconduct, and 2) cases where the perpetrator’s conduct was particularly severe, and therefore poses a continued threat to the University community.

Many employees are also required by federal law to file a Campus Security Authority Incident Report with ¶¶Òõ̽̽ Police Services, without revealing your identity, so that the University can maintain and compile accurate crime statistics for the campus. While you are encouraged to file a criminal complaint if you have been the victim of sexual misconduct, this report is solely to comply with federal laws, and your name will not be shared with Police Services if you wish to remain anonymous.