Frequently Asked Questions

A good first step is to meet with the Title IX Coordinator, who can explain your options and help you connect with support resources. The Title IX Coordinator will keep all information private. Meeting with the Title IX Coordinator does not mean you have to take any additional steps.

Another option is to seek support at Student Health and Counseling.  There are legally confidential counselors on campus who can help you process your experience, without ever labeling it for you. With counseling you may be able to sort through your confused feelings, more clearly understand your experience, and be able to discuss all the options available to you, so you can make decisions that work for you.

Student Health and Counseling counselors and the College Chaplains are the only completely confidential resources on campus. Most other College employees (faculty, staff, and some peer leaders) are required to submit a Community Concern Form when they are informed about sexual misconduct.

Find more information about confidentiality and who is required to report sexual misconduct on the Confidential Resources page.

Yes, you may file a complaint with the college through the Carleton complaint process and with the Northfield police at the same time. The college will handle the internal complaint as outlined in our process. However, sexual assault is a crime, and because the college wants to be sure that any criminal activity is handled by the proper authorities, we encourage any student who feels that they are a victim of sexual assault to take all necessary steps to file a criminal complaint, too. Internal and external complaints can proceed at the same time.

There is no time limit for submitting a Community Concern Form or filing a complaint. As long as the potential respondent is still a member of the Carleton community, the college can take action on a complaint.

If you have experienced sexual misconduct but are not sure if you want to report, or you are not yet ready to do so, consider preserving any evidence that may be relevant to the case. Texts, emails, phone messages, and clothing, among other things, can all be relevant evidence. While you should take the time you need to decide whether you want to come forward, it can be more difficult to pursue a complaint if a substantial amount of time has passed and evidence has disappeared or memories have faded.

Yes, it is possible to request academic accommodations (e.g., extensions to academic deadlines) if you are experiencing difficulty because of a sexual misconduct incident. You do not need to be involved in an adjudicated hearing process to request accommodations. Please talk with the Title IX Coordinator if you would like to request academic accommodations.

Housing accommodations are available for students involved in a sexual misconduct complaint process. A student does not have to go through an adjudicated hearing process to request a housing accommodation. If you are interested in talking about housing accommodations after an incident of sexual misconduct, contact the Title IX Coordinator.

Carleton’s Sexual Misconduct Policy includes an amnesty provision for students who provide information about alcohol or drug use in a sexual misconduct case. That means that information about alcohol or drug use that comes to light during a sexual misconduct investigation will not be referred for disciplinary action.

In addition, the Northfield Police will not cite a person for underage consumption if a sexual assault has occurred. The focus will be on caring for the complainant as needed, not on alcohol use.

There is a difference between Carleton’s complaint process and an external legal process. Carleton’s complaint process is an internal complaint process, which means that it was created for use within the Carleton community. Carleton students involved in a the complaint process, whether as a complainant or a respondent, will be provided support, assistance, and advice from Carleton College community members. The investigation will be an internal investigation, and the Community Board on Sexual Misconduct (CBSM), an internal college board, will decide whether a policy has been violated.

The legal process, whether criminal or civil, is an external process, which means that the process is outside the control and authority of the college. Different standards of evidence and rules of procedure apply in the external process than in the internal process.

Anyone who believes that they are a victim of a crime may take steps to file a criminal complaint with the local authorities. Victims of sexual assault who report an incident to the police need not retain a private attorney because the legal issues will be handled through the county attorney’s office. You may want to retain an attorney is you are accused of a crime, or are considering filing a civil action against the alleged perpetrator

A complainant decides whether to participate in Carleton’s complaint process and/or an external legal process. A complainant can decide to participate in either, both, or neither. In most cases, the college can honor the complainant’s choice to proceed or not. The college will support a complainant in either an internal or external process.

Yes. Under current federal law, students going through a campus complaint process may choose to have an attorney as their adviser. Attorneys act as advisers in the process, however, not as advocates. That means that, like all advisers, they are not allowed to speak at a hearing, do not cross-examine, and do not make statements for the student they advise. See more information on the role of advisers in the process.

Students are not required to have attorneys; Carleton is not required to provide attorneys. In order to make sure the process is equitable, each student may have only one adviser. If the student decides to have an attorney as their adviser, they will not also be assigned a Sexual Misconduct Support Adviser.

Generally, the complaint process takes 30 to 60 days. The process requires a thorough investigation, which may involve interviewing many witnesses. All parties also have the opportunity to review the report that will be provided to the board and offer responses. Because of this, it can take several weeks to complete the process. The staff involved will work to complete the case as quickly as possible.

Complainants, respondents and witnesses may contact the Investigator or Complaint Coordinator at any time with questions about where we are in an ongoing process.

A panel of three members of the Community Board on Sexual Misconduct decides whether a policy violation occurred. At an adjudication hearing, the complainant and respondent both have an opportunity to speak to the panel, and the panel has the opportunity to ask them questions. The panel also has available to them the investigator’s report, which compiles information from interviews with the complainant, the respondent, witnesses, and other sources.

The Community Board on Sexual Misconduct consists of members of the Carleton community, including faculty, staff and students.

• Faculty who are interested in serving on the board submit their interest to the Faculty Affairs Committee, who appoints faculty to all College committees.
• Staff are appointed  through the President’s Office.
• Students submit applications through CSA (Carleton Student Association).

Applications are reviewed and decisions are made by the Title IX Coordinator, who may confer with the President of CSA.

Under Title IX, when the college learns of sexual misconduct, it is required to eliminate the behavior, remedy the effects, and prevent the recurrence. Within this context, the consequences for violating the Sexual Misconduct Policy vary based on the details of the situation, and the final outcome will look different in different cases.

At the extreme ends, a student may be given a warning or may be expelled for their behavior. Where there is physical force, emotional trauma, or alcohol use/abuse, a student will most likely be referred for relevant counseling or support services to address those issues.

For more information about possible sanctions, see the CBSM Hearing Outcomes and Sanctions section of the website.

No. We recognize that participating in a hearing may be difficult for those involved, and we never require the parties to be in the same room together. Generally, during a hearing, one party at a time will be in the room with the CBSM panel while the other party listens via speakerphone from a nearby room.

When you meet with the Title IX Coordinator before a hearing, you can discuss accommodations that will minimize the contact you have to have with the other party and that will make the hearing as comfortable as possible. To learn more about the hearing and possible accommodations, see the complete Student Reporting and Complaint Procedures.

Parents can contact the Title IX Coordinator with questions or concerns about the process. Because information about sexual misconduct cases is private and subject to FERPA rules, the Title IX Coordinator may not be able to share information about a specific case or a complaint. But she can share information about the process.