Campus Information Sharing and Responses to Sexual Misconduct Violations: An Exploratory Study

Area of Science:

• Higher Education Administration
• Student Conduct
• Sexual Misconduct Policy

Background:

• Growing public and institutional interest in responses to sexual misconduct.
• Limited research on how higher education institutions (IHEs) process and share information on students found responsible for sexual misconduct.
• Need to understand current practices and challenges in information sharing among IHEs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how IHEs share information about students found responsible for sexual misconduct internally and between institutions.
• To investigate how IHEs respond to information about applicants previously sanctioned for sexual misconduct.
• To identify key questions and parameters for future research in this area.

Main Methods:

• Practitioner-researcher collaboration.
• Dissemination of a questionnaire to campus administrators, including Title IX coordinators and student conduct administrators.
• Data collected from 176 participants via higher education association listservs.

Main Results:

• 80% of IHEs have internal policies for sharing information on sexual misconduct.
• Approximately 50% have policies for sharing information with other IHEs.
• Nearly one-third use transcript notation for information sharing.
• About 25% have denied admission based on prior sanctions; 25% have admitted such students.
• Most IHEs do not track outcomes for admitted students with prior sanctions.

Conclusions:

• Significant variation exists in IHE policies and practices regarding sexual misconduct information sharing.
• Current inter-institutional information sharing is limited, and its effectiveness is largely unevaluated.
• Further evaluation research is necessary to inform future policy development and mandates.