Most MICA employees are expected to report incidents of discrimination or harassment to appropriate College officials. In order to make informed choices, one should be aware of confidentiality and responsible employee reporting requirements when consulting campus resources.
On campus, some resources may maintain confidentiality - meaning they are not required to report incidents of discrimination or harassment to appropriate College officials - and therefore may discuss options and offer advice without any obligation to inform a College official unless you request that the information be shared. Other resources will take action when you report discrimination or harassment, including crimes such as sexual violence, to them.
The College encourages reporting and seeks to remove any barriers to reporting by making the procedures for reporting transparent and straightforward. The College recognizes that an individual who has been drinking or using drugs at the time of the incident may be hesitant to make a report because of a potential policy violation and consequences for their own conduct. An individual who reports sexual misconduct, either as a complainant or third party witness, will not be subject to disciplinary action by the College for their own personal consumption of alcohol or drugs at or near the time of the incident, provided that any such violations did not and do not place the health or safety of any other person at risk. The College may, however, initiate an educational discussion or pursue other educational remedies regarding alcohol or other drugs.
The following describes the two reporting options at MICA:
Confidential Reporting
If a reporting party would like the details of an incident of discrimination or harassment to be kept confidential, the reporting party may speak with on-campus licensed professional counselors (MICA Counseling Center) and campus health service providers (MICA Student Health Services) whose official responsibilities include providing such services to members of the MICA community or, in the case of employees, the College's Employee Assistance Program. These confidential on-campus resources are available to help free of charge and can be seen on an emergency basis during normal business hours.
Off-campus resources such as professional counselors, health care providers, rape crisis counselors, domestic violence resources, local or state assistance agencies, and members of the clergy are required to maintain confidentiality except in extreme cases of immediacy of threat or danger or abuse of a minor. A list of these resources can be found here <link to Procedures for Responding to Reports of Sexual Assault or Violence> .
Formal Reporting
MICA employees must report incidents of discrimination or harassment to an appropriate College official unless the employee has a confidential relationship as described in section 8.1 above. Individuals may want to consider carefully whether they share personally identifiable details with non-confidential employees, since those details must be shared by the employee with the Title IX Coordinator and/or Deputy Coordinators (in the case of sex discrimination or sexual harassment, including sexual violence) or other appropriate College official. If a complainant does not wish for his or her name and/or the name of the alleged violator to be shared, does not wish for an investigation to take place, or does not want a formal resolution to be pursued, the complainant may make such a request to the Title IX Coordinator or other appropriate College official, who will evaluate that request in light of the responsibility to provide a safe and non-discriminatory environment for all members of the campus community.
In cases indicating pattern, predation, threat, weapons and/or violence, the College will likely be unable to honor a request for confidentiality. In cases where the victim requests confidentiality and the circumstances allow the College to honor that request, the College will offer interim supports and remedies to the victim and the community, but will not otherwise pursue formal action. A party bringing a complaint has the right, and can expect, to have complaints taken seriously by MICA when formally reported, and to have those incidents investigated and properly resolved through these procedures.
Formal reporting still affords privacy to the reporter, and only a small group of officials who need to know will be told, including but not limited to: Division of Student Affairs, Campus Safety, Human Resources, and the Threat Assessment Team. Information will be shared as necessary with investigators, witnesses and the responding party. The circle of people with this knowledge will be kept as tight as possible in order to preserve the complainant's rights and privacy
Reporting to Law Enforcement
The campus process is not a criminal proceeding and does not take the place of such. Disciplinary proceedings are independent of civil or criminal proceedings and may go forward regardless of action taken (or not taken) by law enforcement agencies. Clearly, violations of sexual assault laws are subject to criminal and civil prosecution and may be referred to law enforcement agencies for disposition.
A victim/survivor of sexual assault has the right to file charges, and, at the victim/survivor's request, MICA will promptly assist in notifying appropriate law enforcement officials. You can also contact the Baltimore Police Department to file criminal charges at 410-369-2411. Always call 911 in the case of an emergency.
If you would like assistance from someone outside MICA, call the Sexual Assault Center Hotline at 410-828-6390.