For Faculty, Administrators, and Staff

If a victim/survivor discloses an incident of sexual assault, relationship abuse, stalking, and sexual harassment, you have tremendous potential to positively impact a student victim/survivor's life by providing them with a supportive reaction and referrals to resources. If you have any questions about how to support a survivor, please email the SAVP Office at savp@vassar.edu, call an SAVP Advocate at (845) 437-7333, or email the Institutional Equity Office at equity@vassar.edu. Faculty may also connect with the Faculty Director for Institutional Equity, Jeffrey Schneider at jeschneider@vassar.edu.

Here are some ways to support a student survivor: 

1. Determine safety: If a weapon was used, the perpetrator is unknown, or the student does not feel safe from the perpetrator, call 911 or Safety & Security immediately at (845) 437-7333.

2. Explain your reporting responsibilities.

• See Reporting Responsibilities
• If you are a responsible employee, you are required to notify the College’s Title IX Coordinator of the disclosure.
  • To do so, you may email or call the Institutional Equity Office at equity@vassar.edu/(845) 437-7924 or fill out an online notification form:
    • go.vassar.edu/report-discrimination
    • go.vassar.edu/report-sexualmisconduct
  • Following your notification, a Title IX representative will provide outreach to the victim/survivor. The victim/survivor has the right to file a formal complaint as well as the right not to respond to outreach from the Title IX representative.
  • If a student would like to speak with someone without the Institutional Equity Office being notified, they may contact an SAVP Advocate or the SAVP Office (both college-designated confidential resources), who will fill out an anonymous form (with no names or identifying information) for Clery Act purposes.

3. Provide support:

• Listen and thank them for trusting you. 
• Validate and empathize feelings and concerns.
• Be non-judgmental.
• Mirror their language (i.e. Do they say victim or survivor? What pronouns do they use? How do they describe their experience?)
• If the incident happened in the context of an ongoing relationship, do not tell them they need to immediately leave the relationship. Leaving a relationship without a safety plan is often dangerous. 
• Allow them to make decisions on the next steps.

4. Offer resources:

• Provide a copy of any relevant SAVP information cards.
• See Resources. 
• Offer to connect the student to the SAVP Office or an SAVP Advocate.