Complaint Procedures
Title IX Complaint Procedures for Students
If you are a student who believes you have been or are the victim of sexual harassment, including sexual assault, sexual violence or other sexual misconduct by any member of the IHP community or while participating in an IHP sponsored activity, you may report such conduct or file a complaint under Title IX with the Title IX Coordinator for Students.
Student Investigation Process:
- Complainant meets with the Title IX Coordinator and/or files a written complaint.
- Review of the complaint is made.
- Investigation is initiated and if warranted a Notice of Investigation will be delivered to both parties.
- All involved parties are interviewed.
- Findings of the investigation are then considered by the Title IX Coordinator and appropriate actions will be taken as outlined in the Institute’s Academic and Disciplinary Actions section of the catalog.
- Notice of Outcome will be provided to both parties in writing. The entire process will be conducted in a reasonable amount of time, usually not to exceed 15 business days.
- Appeals process will be provided to both parties via the Student Grievance Procedure.
Students should be acquainted with all published Institute procedures, policies, and/or rules and its Guidelines for Conduct.
The complaint procedures may also include informal methods (e.g., mediation) for resolving some types of sexual harassment complaints. However, the complainant must be notified of the right to end the informal process at any time and begin the formal stage of the complaint process. In cases involving allegations of sexual assault, mediation is not appropriate.
Please note that even if a student does not want to file a formal complaint or does not request that the school take any action on his/her behalf, if a school knows or reasonably should know about possible sexual harassment or sexual violence, it must promptly investigate to determine what occurred and then take appropriate steps to resolve the situation.
Regarding an informal or formal complaint, the privacy of all parties to a complaint of sexual misconduct will be strictly observed, except insofar as it interferes with the campus’ obligation to fully investigate allegations of sexual misconduct. In such instances, privacy will still be tightly controlled on a need-to-know basis.
MGH Security and/or local police may also be notified depending on the nature of the sexual misconduct, This does not mean charges will be automatically filed or that a victim must speak with the police, but the campus is legally required to notify law enforcement authorities. The campus also must statistically report the occurrence on campus of major violent crimes, including certain sex offenses, in an annual report of campus crime statistics. This statistical report does not include personally identifiable information.