Mandated Reporting and Confidential Employees

Mandated Reporters/Responsible Employees

All RFU faculty and employees (including student-employees), other than those deemed Confidential Employees, are Mandated Reporters or Responsible Employees, and are expected to promptly report all known details of actual or suspected discrimination, harassment, and/or retaliation to appropriate officials immediately, although there are some limited exceptions. Supportive measures may be offered as the result of such disclosures without formal RFU action. In addition, employees are required to provide pregnant students with the Director of Title IX Compliance/Title IX Coordinator's contact information. Please see Pregnancy/Parenting for more information.

Complainants may want to carefully consider whether they share personally identifiable details with Mandated Reporters, as those details must be shared with the Director of Title IX Compliance.

If a Complainant expects formal action in response to their allegations, reporting to any Mandated Reporter can connect them with resources to report alleged crimes and/or Policy violations, and these Responsible Employees will immediately pass Notice to the Director of Title IX Compliance (and/or police, if desired by the Complainant or required by law), who will act when an incident is reported to them.

The following sections describe RFU ’s reporting options for a Complainant or third party (including parents/guardians when appropriate):

Confidential Employees

To enable Complainants to access support and resources without filing a Complaint, RFU has designated specific employees as Confidential Resources. Those designated by RFU as Confidential Resources are not required to report actual or suspected discrimination, harassment, or retaliation in a way that identifies the Parties. They will, however, provide the Complainant with the Director of Title IX/Equity Officers’ contact information and offer options and resources without any obligation to inform an outside agency or RFU official unless a Complainant has requested the information be shared.

There are three categories of Confidential Employees:

1. Those with confidentiality bestowed by law or professional ethics, such as lawyers, medical professionals, clergy, and counselors
2. Those whom RFU has specifically designated as confidential for purposes of providing support and resources to the Complainant
3. Those conducting human subjects research as part of a study approved by RFU ’s Institutional Review Board (IRB).

For those in category 1 above, to be able to respect confidentiality, they must be in a confidential relationship with the person reporting, such that they are within the scope of their licensure, professional ethics, or confidential role at the time of receiving the Notice. These individuals will maintain confidentiality except in extreme cases of immediacy of threat or danger or abuse of a minor, elder, or individual with a disability, or when required to disclose by law or court order.

If a Complainant would like the details of an incident to be kept confidential, the Complainant may speak with the following Confidential Employees:

• Confidential Employees
  • Student Counseling Service
    Email: scs@rosalindfranklin.edu (use Virtru for added security)
    Phone: 847-578-8723
  • Student Health and Wellness Center. All on-campus health service providers and staff are considered confidential employees with the exception of reporting the incident without personally identifiable information to the Equity Officer and Campus Safety for the purposes of Clery reporting
• Designated Confidential Resource (Non-RFU Employees)
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center
    4275 Old Grand Avenue, Gurnee, IL 60031
    24-hr Support Line: 847-872-7799

Institutional counselors and the Employee Assistance Program are available to help free of charge and may be consulted on an emergency basis during normal business hours.

Employees who have confidentiality as described above, and who receive Notice within the scope of their confidential roles will timely submit anonymous statistical information for Clery Act purposes- reporting crimes on RFU owned or controlled property, unless they believe it would be harmful to their client or patient.

Failure of a Mandated Reporter, as described above in this section, to report an incident of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation of which they become aware is a violation of RFU Policy and can be subject to disciplinary action for failure to comply/failure to report. This also includes situations when a harasser is a Mandated Reporter. Such individuals are obligated to report their own misconduct, and failure to do so is a chargeable offense under this Policy.

A Mandated Reporter who is themselves a target of harassment or other misconduct under this Policy is not required to report their own experience, though they are, of course, encouraged to do so.

In addition, Complainants may speak with individuals unaffiliated with RFU without concern that Policy will require them to disclose information to the institution without permission:

• Licensed professional counselors and other medical providers
• Local rape crisis counselors
• Domestic violence resources
• Local or state assistance agencies
• Clergy/Chaplains
• Attorneys