Student Life

Reporting Concerns

Academic Integrity

Cases of academic integrity are intended to begin with the Honor Council. Honor Council and/or involved faculty members may, in turn, refer complex cases to the Dean’s Office. 

Academic Concern

Anyone who has an academic concern about a student (e.g. unexcused absences, falling asleep in class, falling behind on assignments, etc.) may complete the Share an Academic Concern form to notify the Advising Deans and/or the Committee on Student Standing and Programs (CSSP).

Health, Wellness, or Behavioral Concern

Please use the CARE Team Alert form to alert the CARE team about a student. Submissions are reviewed regularly, but not on a 24-7 basis. If you have an immediate concern about the well-being of a student on campus, please contact Campus Safety at 610-896-1111.

Sexual Misconduct

You can report an incident of sexual misconduct using this form. The procedures for handling allegations of sexual misconduct can be found on the Sexual Misconduct site.

Standard of Proof

The standard of proof used in all student conduct processes to determine whether a policy violation or illegal activity has occurred is the preponderance of the evidence standard, also known as “more likely than not.” A fact is established by a preponderance of the evidence if it is found, after considering all the available information, that there is more than a 50% chance that the fact is true.

Involved Parties

• The Confronting Party (sometimes referred to as a Complainant) is the individual or group bringing forth the complaint or making the report. The College reserves the right to act as the confronting party in the following cases if:
  • the individual affected by the alleged violation cannot or refuses to participate as the confronting party;
  • there is no single identifiable individual affected;
  • the alleged violation has not been committed against an identifiable individual or individuals;
  • the College has an institutional interest (including but not limited to public safety, physical damage, and reputational damage).
• The Confronted Party (sometimes referred to as a Respondent) is the individual or group identified in the report for allegedly violating college policy.
• Witnesses are any individuals brought forward by the confronting and/or confronted parties or the College who may have witnessed or have pertinent information pertaining to the alleged policy violations.
• Support Persons are individuals requested by the confronting and/or confronted parties to accompany them throughout resolution processes as a non-participatory, but supportive presence.

• The Convener is the professional staff member in the Dean’s Office who has been assigned to respond to the alleged policy violation and to facilitate a resolution process.
• The Investigator is most often the Associate Director for Investigations in Campus Safety, the College’s professional staff member trained and tasked with conducting internal investigations; though the Dean’s Office reserves the right to employ the services of external expert investigations as needed.

Investigations

Some allegations of policy violation may necessitate an investigation to establish the facts pertaining to the situation and to fully understand the impact of the harm to involved parties as well as the broader Haverford community. Depending upon the nature of the incident report, investigations can occur before or after initiating a particular resolution process. The Convener collaborates with Dean’s Office staff to determine when an investigation may be warranted.

Investigations are led by trained professionals, either the Associate Director for Investigations in Campus Safety or an external expert who has been contracted by the College. The typical investigation process involves interviews with the confronting and confronted parties, witnesses presented by those parties, and anyone else who may have relevant information or context to share. The confronted and confronting parties are typically asked to submit written statements and they are each permitted to ask questions of the other, either in a real-time hearing (in person or remotely), or asynchronously through email correspondence. The investigation concludes when the Investigator shares a written report with the confronting and confronted parties as well as the Convener. More details about the process are provided to the parties when an investigation is initiated.<./p>

Retaliation

No person may intimidate, harass, threaten, coerce, or discriminate against any individual because the individual has made a report or complaint, assisted, or participated or refused to participate in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under these guidelines as this constitutes retaliation.

Privacy and Confidentiality

Haverford is a relatively small and tight-knit residential community in which information and misinformation can quickly spread. The College aims to protect all parties involved in conduct cases from the potential of having personal or sensitive information shared inappropriately, particularly when the information is erroneous or incomplete or when there could possibly be undue personal or social consequences. To this end, everyone involved in conduct proceedings (including witnesses, support persons, and faculty and staff) are encouraged to limit the sharing of information about cases. Sharing information pertaining to a case in a way that violates policies, causes harm to others, or constitutes retaliatory behavior, as defined by these guidelines, may result in a conduct proceeding for the person disclosing the information.

Most professional staff and student employees, as agents of the College, are expected to report certain serious concerns to a campus authority (e.g. sexual or gender-based misconduct, physical violence, illegal activities, etc.). There are relatively few people on campus who reach beyond the standard expectations of privacy to maintaining strict confidentiality; these include counseling staff in Counseling and Psychological Services, medical professionals in Student Health Services, and certain religious and spiritual advisors in the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.

Recordkeeping

All records associated with student conduct cases are kept confidential and available only to a select group of professional staff in the Dean’s Office whose roles and responsibilities warrant such access. Student conduct records are not shared with persons outside of the College, but may be reviewed and referenced by the Dean’s Office as needed to verify the conduct status of Haverford students and alumni pursuing various post-graduate opportunities (e.g. graduate and professional school applications; federal and state government jobs; teaching jobs, etc.). Conduct records may also be shared pursuant to subpoena by a court of law.

The documents that are typically maintained in a student record are as follows:

1. Incident report(s) - The initial information shared with the Dean’s Office is typically generated either by a report submitted by Campus Safety or a form submitted by a student or other member of the campus community. The report usually includes basic information about the incident (e.g. date, time, location, nature of incident), a synopsis of the alleged violation(s), and any relevant details.
2. Statements - Depending upon the nature of the incident, one or more parties, including confronted and confronting parties as well as witnesses, may submit written statements that share relevant information and details about the incident(s) in question. If so, these statements are kept as part of the official record.
3. Investigative Report - If the Dean’s Office determines that an investigation is warranted, the Investigator will compile information from interviews and evidentiary review, providing a summary of established facts and general findings in a written report.

The Dean’s Office uses a secure case management software program called Maxient to store documents from student conduct resolution proceedings. The Convener will work with the Associate Dean of Residential Education & Student Engagement to update case files to include the findings, resolutions, and rationales. Most correspondence from the Dean’s Office pertaining to student conduct cases will be sent electronically through the Maxient software. Dean’s Disciplinary Panels will also be audio recorded for quality assurance and in case of appeal. The audio file will be stored with the case information.

Revised August 2023