Administration has been getting a little help in addressing student’s concerns about issues on campus from an online reporting tool.
MySafeCampus, owned by Business Controls Inc., provides students from all over the country with a safe and anonymous way to report crimes and concerns to University staff.
UH has been using this service since January 2005 and the team that handles them usually receive reports about human resources; management and employment issues; discrimination assertions; fraud and abuse; statue and policy non-compliance; and health and safety issues.
“A response acknowledging receipt of the report is provided to the person who submitted the report,” Guyton said.
“The internal auditor and the General Counsel confer on whether an investigation is warranted and determine who or what should be investigated. The internal auditor then communicates with whomever is conducting the official investigation.”
UH typically receives between 40 and 50 reports a year, Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel Dona Cornell said in an email, and the reports are handled by a team that includes, but is not limited to, the chief financial officer, the internal auditor and the general counsel.
“Every report results in a greater understanding of issues affecting the campus,” Cornell said. “We estimate that less than 20 percent of the reports filed result in official disciplinary action.”
The way the team that handles the report does their job is largely up to the institution, said U.B. Cuminieri, a risk consultant for MySafeCampus. Cuminieri also said the data in the reports belongs to the University.
“If they decide to make (the reports) public, that’s on them,” Cuminieri said.
While the police are sometimes involved in investigations, Cornell said the contents of the reports are kept away from the public in order to maintain the integrity of the process.
Students have the option to remain anonymous toward the University and not MySafeCampus personnel or to keep their identity completely hidden, but MySafeCampus provides a way for institutions to contact anonymous students for follow-up through the website without breaching the anonymity.
“We built message boards into our system so that school officials could potentially communicate with (students) and still maintain that anonymity,” Cuminieri said.
University staff often use the message boards for follow-up questions on reports, Ciminieri said.
Students who would like to learn more about the service or would like to make a report can do so at Mysafecampus.com.
