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Employee Responsibilities

Your Obligation as an Employee

The University of Oregon is committed to providing a safe, respectful, and inclusive learning and work environment for students, faculty, and staff. Employees contribute to this commitment by demonstrating inclusion, by intervening, offering support, and speaking up when others experience harm, and by meeting their reporting obligations.

Questions about reporting obligations can be directed to oicrc@uoregon.edu.

August 1, 2024 – New reporting requirements begin 

Revisions to Title IX regulations broaden employee reporting responsibilities on our campuses.

The University of Oregon implemented an emergency policy on August 1, 2024, to comply with these requirements. Under the emergency policy, all faculty and staff must report disclosures of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, including those made by students to the Title IX coordinator. 

  • New Title IX regulations specifically state that anyone with responsibility for teaching, advising, or administrative leadership is obligated to notify the Title IX coordinator of sex-based discrimination and harassment to ensure the university can respond effectively by offering support and options for addressing what happened. Under the emergency policy, students will retain agency to decide how they want to move forward. 
     
  • Under the revised regulations and UO emergency policy, there is no longer a specific list of designated reporters who have a duty to report. Instead, all faculty and staff are expected to report disclosures of sex discrimination, harassment, and retaliation to the Title IX coordinator. Your obligation to report is not at a student's discretion.  
  • Title IX regulations allow for certain employees to be designated as confidential. There are confidential employees at the UO, those with professional obligations and/or commitments to confidentiality, who maintain confidentiality while offering information, resources, and reporting options to students, including confidential advocates in the Care and Advocacy Program in the Office of the Dean of Students.  

OICRC is updating training materials and other resources for the UO community. Faculty and staff will receive specific training in the fall of 2024.

Expectations of Employees 

As a caring community, and to promote a compassionate campus community, the university expects all employees to do the following when responding to disclosures of discriminatory misconduct:

  • Listen to what the person wants to tell you before providing supportive resources, referrals, and information;
  • Inform the person of your reporting responsibilities, as well as reporting options, including the option to report to the Office of Investigations and Civil Rights Compliance;
  • Be sensitive to the needs of the person who allegedly experienced the conduct, without being judgmental, dismissive, condescending, discriminatory, or retaliatory; and
  • At the outset of the conversation, if the person making the disclosure appears under 18, ask them if they are 18 years of age or older. If they are under 18, explain that all employees, except for confidential employees engaging in privileged communications, are required to report all disclosures of “abuse” as defined by state law (see ORS § 419B.005), including physical or sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or a current threat of physical or sexual abuse of a minor, to the Department of Human Services or a law enforcement agency.

Frequently Asked Questions

Responsibilities

Confidential Employees

The university has identified certain employee positions as confidential employees. Confidential employees will not share information disclosed to them with others without the express permission of the person making the disclosure or as required or permitted by applicable law or professional codes of ethics (such as cases involving imminent risk of serious harm). Confidential employees are only confidential while they are functioning within the scope of their duties to which privilege or confidentiality applies.

In responding to reports of discriminatory misconduct, a confidential employee is required to explain:

  1. Their status as a confidential employee, including the circumstances in which the employee is not required to notify the Chief Civil Rights Officer about conduct that reasonably may constitute discrimination;
  2. How to contact the Chief Civil Rights Officer;
  3. How to make a complaint of discrimination; and 
  4. That the Chief Civil Rights Officer may be able to offer and coordinate supportive measures, as well as initiate an informal resolution process or an investigation.

The following employees are confidential employees, when acting in their confidential, professional role:

  • All health care and mental health professionals working at the University of Oregon, including without limitation employees at University Health Services and in Athletics Medicine;
  • Care and Advocacy Program staff;
  • Employees designated as Confidential Employees by the University;
  • Employees conducting an Institutional Review Board-approved human-subjects study designed to gather information about sex discrimination, but only while conducting an approved study;
  • The university’s Ombudsperson and program staff (Note: The Ombudsperson does not have a legal privilege of confidentiality, but under their professional code of ethics the Ombudsperson must take steps to avoid, whenever possible, disclosure of confidential records and information);
  • Employee and contract attorneys representing students in Student Conduct processes;
  • Other employees who have a professional commitment and/or legal privilege that may enable them to oppose successfully an application for a court order seeking disclosure of communications, but only when acting in that professional capacity;
  • Employees in colleges and departments designated as confidential employees.

Designated Reporters

All employees are designated reporters, except confidential employees and most student employees. Graduate employees, resident assistants, and orientation leaders are required to report. Members of the Board of Trustees are also designated reporters.

When designated reporters become aware of an alleged incident of discriminatory misconduct that involves a student or employee as either the complainant or respondent, they are always obligated to report information they have to OICRC, even if the accused is unknown or not affiliated with the university. Designated reporters should be prepared to report the name, date, time, location, and description of the incident to the extent such information is known to them. They otherwise will maintain privacy to the greatest extent possible.

Designated reporters should not investigate any matter themselves. If a Designated reporter knows that a matter has already been brought to the attention of OICRC, the designated reporter does not need to report it but is encouraged to report new or additional information to OICRC.

Designated reporters are required to share information disclosed during public awareness events (e.g. “Take Back the Night” and town halls). The university will respond to such reports where there is a serious and imminent threat to a person’s safety.

Designated reporters who fail to report as required by policy may be subject to discipline or other appropriate corrective measures.

Student Employees

Upon receipt of a disclosure of discriminatory misconduct, student employees except for designated reporters (i.e., graduate employees, resident assistants, and orientation leaders), must do one of the following:

  • Consult with their supervisor about the appropriate steps to take without revealing the name of the person who made the disclosure;
  • Consult with a confidential advocate in the Dean of Students Office;
  • Ask the person making the disclosure whether they want to report to OICRC;
  • Ask the person making the disclosure whether they want to speak with a confidential advocate in the Dean of Students Office.

Additional Reporting Obligations

Mandatory Reporting: Child Abuse and Neglect

All UO employees, including student employees and graduate employees, have a duty to report child abuse and neglect to the Oregon Department of Human Services or law enforcement when there is reasonable cause to believe that child abuse or neglect has occurred. A child is any person under the age of 18.  The duty to report is in effect at all times, not only during work hours.

For more information, refer to the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse page on the HR website.

Campus Security Authority: Clery Reporting Obligations

Campus Security Authorities (CSAs) are employees who are in a professional position that makes it likely that students and others could report crimes to them. Under federal law, CSAs have a responsibility to tell the institution about such incidents. For information relating to CSA reporting obligations under the Campus Clery Act, please visit the University of Oregon Police Department website or contact the Clery Coordinator at clery@uoregon.edu.