REPORT IT: Report Sexual Harassment and Assault and Help Inform Federal Policy

We encourage students to #ReportIt when they witness or experience sexual harassment or assault at their college or university.

A recent survey of the experiences of LGBTQ youth found that more than half of LGBTQ students ages 13-21 are sexually harassed at school¹. But LGBTQ students do not always report these experiences, often because they are reasonably afraid of not being believed or of being treated badly because of reporting.

This kind of sexual harassment may be against the law, and your school may be obliged to do something about it. Specifically, Title IX is a federal law that prohibits most schools from discriminating on the basis of sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity).

Discrimination on the basis of sex includes sexual harassment and assault. When a school knows (or reasonably should know) about sex discrimination, Title IX requires it to take immediate action to eliminate the harassment, prevent it from happening again, and address its effects². Here is more information about how the law protects LGBTQ students.

The U.S. Department of Education is responsible for making sure that schools comply with Title IX’s requirements. The Department is currently rewriting its rules on sexual harassment and assault under Title IX in ways that might, among other things, increase protections for students who report harassment. Hearing about students’ experiences of sexual harassment and assault will help the Department make better policy. Campus Pride wants to make sure that the experiences of LGBTQ students are part of this discussion.

By completing this form, Campus Pride can gather data that it will use to provide input to the Department of Education on the new Title IX rules. It may also use this information to provide assistance to LGBTQ students who wish to file complaints with the Office for Civil Rights. Please share this form and encourage LGBTQ students and their peers to #ReportIt.

How will Campus Pride use this information?

The purpose of this form is for data collection and providing information to the Department of Education. When possible we may reach out to the individuals. Campus Pride will NOT respond to all incidents.

Fill out your incident reporting form with as much detail as possible. Though reports may be filed anonymously, please be aware this may limit our ability to respond or follow up accordingly. Remember that this form is not a substitution for the campus disciplinary processes, campus bias reporting procedures, police reports, etc.

We will provide information gathered to the Department of Education as part of the public participation process in the Title IX rulemaking. We will include general descriptions of the incident reported. We will not include the identifying information of anyone involved or the name of the school in this comment.

We also encourage you to consider reporting your incident to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. One of the primary ways that the Department learns about instances of sex discrimination (including sexual harassment and assault) at colleges and universities is through reports submitted by students to its Office for Civil Rights. That Office has the authority to investigate complaints of sexual harassment, assault, and other forms of discrimination, and may be able to assist you.

What if I’m not certain my experience counts as sexual harassment or assault?

There are different forms of sexual assault and sexual harassment. You can be assaulted or harassed by a fellow student, a teacher, professor, coach, staff or faculty member, or (if you work at the school) by a coworker. Remember that anyone who knows of a case of harassment on their campus has the right to report.

Sexual Assault is a physical invasion of your body. It can sometimes result in bodily harm or injury, as well as psychological and emotional trauma. The definition of sexual assault includes rape, as well as other acts that invade or hurt your body. Other examples of sexual assault include inappropriate touching, groping, attempted rape, forcing you to perform a sexual act, or penetrating any part of your body with a part of their body, or with an object. If what happened included unwelcome touching of your body, the situation may have involved sexual assault.

Sexual Harassment ranges from unwanted touching, gesturing, and inappropriate jokes, to someone promising you a good grade or a promotion in exchange for sexual favors or requiring sexual favors in order to give you something you deserve or want in a school or work setting.

Sexual harassment does not always have to be “sexual.” It can also look or feel like teasing, intimidating or offensive comments based on stereotypes (e.g., about how certain people “are” or should act), or bullying someone based on their sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. In short, sexual harassment is harassment that is sexual, sex-based, or gender-based in the nature of the harassment itself, regardless of the orientation, gender-identity, sexual interests or pleasure of the harasser. Here is more information on sexual harassment.

Is it really important to file a report with Campus Pride or with the Office for Civil Rights?

Yes! Providing the Department of Education with specific examples of how colleges and universities respond to sexual harassment of LGBTQ students will help the Department develop a better policy that is more inclusive of LGBTQ students. Similarly, submitting complaints to the
Office for Civil Rights also helps make the Department aware of sexual harassment and assault in schools and be able to respond. And your information helps Campus Pride to better understand the challenges LGBTQ students face so that we can continually improve our work to protect
LGBTQ students.

Tips for filing an OCR report:
1. A complaint must be filed within 180 days of when the incident of discrimination or
harassment occurred.
2. Filling out the entire form, with as much detail as possible, will help your proceedings move
quicker.
3. If you are a victim of harassment or discrimination, you have the right to report. If you
witnessed an act of harassment or discrimination, you have the right to report. If you are a
third party of the victim (friend, family member or faculty), you have the right to report.
4. Reports to the OCR are confidential and cannot be shared without your permission.
5. Your school and anyone employed by your school cannot retaliate against anyone who has
reported or assisted in a Title IX investigation.
6. Here is where you can file the complaint online.

1 GLSEN, The 2017 National School Climate Survey: The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Youth in Our Nation’s Schools 26 (2018), available at
https://www.glsen.org/article/2017-national-school-climate-survey-1.
2 https://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/v2_9_fastfacts_nwlc_titleix.pdf.