Policy on Persons of Concern and Campus Threat Assessment

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Purpose

This policy establishes the CARE team and its policies and related procedures; provides mechanisms for reporting and mitigating behavioral incidents and safety concerns impacting members of the Wentworth Institute of Technology (university) community and formalizes how the university addresses potential safety threats to members of the university community and university premises. 

Scope / Availability

This policy applies to all members of the Wentworth community, students, faculty, staff, and affiliates.  

Legal

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Policy

The university is committed to promoting a safe and secure community within a supportive and accessible living, learning, and working environment. It is further committed to identifying conditions or circumstances that may pose risks to the safety and security of members of the university community and safeguarding persons and physical resources.  

As part of these efforts, Wentworth has established a CARE Team. Chaired by the Dean of Students, CARE is responsible for coordinating existing resources to address and manage patterns and/or instances of distressing, disruptive, disturbing, or dangerous behavior.  The processes established by the CARE team do not take the place of procedures outlined in the Student Code of Conduct or the Employee Policies & Procedure Guide. 

Record keeping of CARE referrals will be kept in Maxient, the electronic database used to refer, track, and document responses taken.  All CARE files shall be kept by the University’s Records Retention Policy. 

Definitions

  1. CARE Referral: A public online or email referral system that enables someone to report a social, emotional, academic, or behavioral involving members of the university community. 
  2. Members of the University Community: Includes any person who is a student, instructor, faculty member, or university staff member; any other person working for the university, either directly or indirectly (e.g., private enterprise on campus); or any person who resides on university premises. A person's status in a situation shall be determined by the Dean of Students. 
  3. Threatening Behavior: Words or actions that pose a threat to self or others, the university reserves the right to determine what reaches this threshold 
  4. Disruption: Behavior that poses a threat to the learning environment, health, safety, or welfare of others or interferes with the normal academic, living, and working of the university. 
  5. University Premises: Includes all land, buildings, facilities, and other property in the possession of or owned, used, controlled or maintained by the university, either solely or in conjunction with another entity or person. 
  6. Interim Actions: Interim actions/restrictions may include separation from the university or residence area, relocation of residence, restriction to designated campus areas or other campus facilities by time or location, restriction of communication with individuals or groups, or the requirement to obtain advance authorization to engage in a specified activity. Interim restrictions become effective immediately without prior notice and remain in effect until notice is given of their removal. 

Procedures

Reporting to the CARE Team

  1. For an immediate or imminent threat, call Campus Police at 617.989.4444 or 911 before submitting a CARE Referral. 
  2. Community members and those with social, emotional, academic, behavioral, or general safety concerns are encouraged to immediately submit a CARE Referral online at: wit.edu/care. Reports may be submitted anonymously. The university prohibits knowingly reporting false claims or information. 

Responsibility of the CARE Team

  1. Respond to reports about members of the university community who exhibit social, emotional, academic, or behavioral incidents or disturbing or disruptive behavior that may pose a threat to themselves or others 
  2. Balance individual needs with the interests and resources of the university. 
  3. Conduct an individualized assessment, seeking out additional information as needed.  
  4. Make referrals to additional departments as appropriate 
  5. Develop needed policies, protocols, and procedures to support CARE functions. 
  6. Develop and implement education and outreach plans to ensure the university community is aware of CARE and the reporting mechanism. 

Threat Assessment

  1. If information is provided to CARE in which a potential threat to the campus community is posed, a threat assessment may be conducted. 
  2. A threat assessment is a comprehensive, fact-based assessment of an individual’s reported behavior. 
  3. CARE may: 
    1. Use the expertise and assistance of resources outside the university as needed, and 
    2. Contact any individual(s) with potential knowledge of the reported issue or concern. 

Retaliation

All officers, faculty, staff, employees, consultants, students, and parents of the university should feel safe to report without fear of reprisal any concerns that are reasonable and made in good faith.  It is a violation of the Whistleblower Policy for anyone acting on behalf of the university, to retaliate against an individual who in good faith reports a possible violation of the Whistleblower Policy. 

Confidentiality

The university understands the sensitivity of information submitted through CARE and makes efforts to respect the privacy of the reporting party as much as possible. Information related to threatening behavior is handled as discreetly as possible, with facts made available only to those who need to know. Disclosure of threatening behavior may be necessary to protect the health and safety of the university community, or as required by law. 

Additional Information & Related Documents

Interpretation & Revision

Any questions of interpretation regarding this policy shall be referred to the Dean of Students. They will be the final authority regarding the interpretation of this Policy. 

This policy shall be reviewed every three years; however, minor changes and updates can be made at any time.  

Wentworth will typically apply the policy in place at the time it receives a report concerning the respected policy. 

Additionally, in instances where two or more policies are implicated, a case-by-case determination will be made to determine what policy will be used. 

Review and Revision History

This policy was drafted and reviewed by members from the CARE Team including Student Affairs, Human Resources, and Campus Police. It was approved by the President on March 29, 2023.