Responsible and Confidential Employees

All university employees listed below (which may include those who are staff, faculty, or student employees) who are not Confidential Employees are considered “Responsible Employees. All employees who are not Confidential Employees are highly encouraged to report information about an allegation of sexual harassment to the Title IX Coordinator to further assist the Title IX Office in providing resources to those affected by sexual harassment in our community.

Responsible Employees must immediately report information about conduct that reasonably may constitute a violation under this Policy. However, a Responsible Employee who is a target of Prohibited Conduct is not required to report their own experience, although they are encouraged to do so.

• All members of Senior Staff
• Academic deans and department chairs
• Directors and coordinators of academic and campus programs
• Advisors of student organizations
• Supervisors of student employees and professional employees
• Staff in the Office of the Dean of Students
• Staff in the Office of Human Resources
• Staff in Campus Safety and Police
• Residence Life staff (including student staff such as resident assistants, house managers, and apartment managers)
• Staff in the Office of Student Conduct
• Staff in the Student Care and Outreach Office
• Athletics Department staff including coaching staff
•  Study Away program leaders
• ELON 1010 Instructors
• Student employees are only Responsible Employees when they are working in their role, not when in their role as students in classrooms, experiential learning, and social settings. 

Any employee with questions about their reporting obligations should contact the Title IX Coordinator. 

Responsible Employees must also promptly share all details of Prohibited Conduct that they observe or have knowledge of, even if not reported to them by a Complainant or third-party. Responsible Employees are encouraged to report the information directly to the Title IX Coordinator and should not attempt to investigate or gather any additional details about the alleged incident, in the moment or subsequently, beyond the information shared with them. Responsible Employees are encouraged to use the University’s Online Reporting Form.

Responsible Employees are not required to report information disclosed (1) at public awareness events (e.g., “Take Back the Night,” candlelight vigils, protests, “survivor speak-outs” or other public forums in which students may disclose incidents of sexual harassment or related conduct; collectively, “Public Awareness Events”), or (2) during a student’s participation as a subject in an Institutional Review Board-approved human subjects research protocol (“IRB Research”).

Failure of a Responsible Employee to report an incident of which they become aware is a violation of university Policy and can be grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including termination. Employees who fail to fulfill their Responsible Employee obligations under this Policy will be referred to the Office of Human Resources. Student employees who fail to fulfill their Responsible Employee obligations will be referred to their employment supervisor.

Complainants and others should be aware that any information they share with Responsible Employees is not confidential and must be reported under this Policy. Complainants and others cannot report information “off the record” to Responsible Employees, and Responsible Employees cannot honor requests to not report potentially prohibited behavior.

Confidential Employees

Confidential Employees are employees (such as a qualified mental health or sexual assault counselors, domestic violence counselors, medical professional, ordained clergy, or attorneys who are not university employees, for example) who can receive confidential communications which, by law, cannot be disclosed to another person without the consent of the individual who provided the information, except in very limited circumstances such as allegations of the abuse or neglect of a minor or the imminent threat to the life of any person. The employee’s confidential status is only with respect to information received while functioning within the scope of their duties to which a privilege or confidentiality applies.

The university has designated individuals who have the ability to have confidential communications as “Confidential Employees,” as defined below. When information is shared by an individual with a Confidential Employee or a community professional with the same legal protections, the Confidential Employee (and/or such community professional) cannot be compelled to reveal the information to any third party except when an applicable law or a court order requires or permits disclosure of such information.

Generally, confidential information may be disclosed when the individual gives written consent for its disclosure. The following staff are Confidential Employees:

• Student Health Services staff and Faculty/Staff Wellness Clinic staff when acting in their role as a medical provider
• Counseling Services staff when acting in their role as a mental health counselor
• The Assistant Director of the Gender and LGTBQIA Center (GLC) for Violence Response and other members of GLC staff when serving in the role to provide Violence Response (Confidential Advocate)
• Safeline responders when serving in the role as a Safeline responder
• Staff in the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life who are ordained and acting in their role as a clergy-counselor within their respective faith tradition