Title 17. Education

Chapter 26. Colleges and Universities

Part XII. Campus Accountability and Safety

17:3399.15       Campus security policy

A. The Board of Regents shall establish uniform policies and best practices to implement measures to address the reporting of power-based violence on institution campuses, the prevention of such violence, communication between institutions regarding incidents of power-based violence, and the provision of medical and mental health care needed for alleged victims. 

B. Each public postsecondary education management board shall institute policies incorporating the policies and best practices prescribed by the Board of Regents regarding the prevention and reporting of incidents of power-based violence committed by or against students of an institution. The policies, at a minimum, shall require each institution under the board’s management to provide for the following: 

(1) Confidential advisors. (a) The institution shall designate individuals who shall serve as confidential advisors, such as health care staff, clergy, staff of a women’s center, or other such categories. Such designation shall not preclude the institution from partnering with national, state, or local victim services organizations to serve as confidential advisors or to serve in other confidential roles. 

(b) Prior to designating a person as a confidential advisor, the person shall complete a training program that includes information on power-based violence, trauma-informed interactions, Title IX requirements, state law on power-based violence, and resources for victims. 

(c) The confidential advisor shall complete annual training relative to power-based violence and Title IX. The initial and annual training shall be developed by the attorney general in collaboration with the Board of Regents and shall be provided through online training materials. 

(d) The confidential advisor shall inform the alleged victim of the following: 

(i) The rights of the alleged victim under federal and state law and the policies of the institution. 

(ii) The alleged victim’s reporting options, including the option to notify the institution, the option to notify local law enforcement, and any other reporting options. 

(iii) If reasonably known, the potential consequences of the reporting options provided in this Part. 

(iv) The process of investigation and disciplinary proceedings of the institution. 

(v) The process of investigation and adjudication of the criminal justice system. 

(vi) The limited jurisdiction, scope, and available sanctions of the institutional student disciplinary proceeding, and that it should not be considered a substitute for the criminal justice process. 

(vii) Potential reasonable accommodations that the institution may provide to an alleged victim. 

(viii) The name and location of the nearest medical facility where an alleged victim may have a rape kit administered by an individual trained in sexual assault forensic medical examination and evidence collection, and information on transportation options and available reimbursement for a visit to such facility. 

(e) The confidential advisor may, as appropriate, serve as a liaison between an alleged victim and the institution or local law enforcement, when directed to do so in writing by an alleged victim who has been fully and accurately informed about what procedures shall occur if information is shared, and assist an alleged victim in contacting and reporting to a responsible employee or local law enforcement. 

(f) The confidential advisor shall be authorized by the institution to liaise with appropriate staff at the institution to arrange reasonable accommodations through the institution to allow the alleged victim to change living arrangements or class schedules, obtain accessibility services, or arrange other accommodations. 

(g) The confidential advisor shall be authorized to accompany the alleged victim, when requested to do so by the alleged victim, to interviews and other proceedings of a campus investigation and institutional disciplinary proceedings. 

(h) The confidential advisor shall advise the alleged victim of, and provide written information regarding, both the alleged victim’s rights and the institution’s responsibilities regarding orders of protection, no-contact orders, restraining orders, or similar lawful orders issued by a court of competent jurisdiction or by the institution. 

(i) The confidential advisor shall not be obligated to report crimes to the institution or law enforcement in a way that identifies an alleged victim or an accused individual, unless otherwise required to do so by law. The confidential advisor shall, to the extent authorized under law, provide confidential services to students. Any requests for accommodations, as provided in Subparagraph (f) of this Paragraph, made by a confidential advisor shall not trigger an investigation by the institution. 

(j) The institution shall appoint an adequate number of confidential advisors. The Board of Regents shall determine the adequate number of confidential advisors for an institution, based upon its size, no later than January 1, 2022, and on January first annually thereafter. 

(k) Each institution that enrolls fewer than five thousand students may partner with another institution in their system or region to provide the services described in this Subsection. However, this Paragraph shall not absolve the institution of its obligations under this Part. 

(l) Each institution may offer the same accommodations to the accused that are hereby required to be offered to the alleged victim. 

(2) Website. The institution shall list on its website: 

(a) The contact information for obtaining a confidential advisor. 

(b) Reporting options for alleged victims of power-based violence. 

(c) The process of investigation and disciplinary proceedings of the institution. 

(d) The process of investigation and adjudication of the criminal justice system. 

(e) Potential reasonable accommodations that the institution may provide to an alleged victim. 

(f) The telephone number and website address for a local, state, or national hotline providing information to victims of power-based violence, which shall be updated on at least an annual basis. 

(g) The name and location of the nearest medical facility where an individual may have a rape kit administered by an individual trained in sexual assault forensic medical examination and evidence collection, and information on transportation options and available reimbursement for a visit to such facility. 

(h) Each current memorandum of understanding between the institution and a local law enforcement and criminal justice agency located within the parish of the campus. 

(3) Online reporting. The institution shall provide an online reporting system to collect anonymous disclosures of incidents of power-based violence and crimes and track patterns of power-based violence and crimes on campus. An individual may submit a confidential report about a specific incident of power-based violence or crime to the institution using the online reporting system. The online system shall also include information regarding how to report an incident of power-based violence or crime to a responsible employee and law enforcement and how to contact a confidential advisor. 

(4) Amnesty policy. The institution shall provide an amnesty policy for any student who reports, in good faith, power-based violence to the institution. Such student shall not be sanctioned by the institution for a nonviolent student conduct violation, such as underage drinking, that is revealed in the course of such a report. 

(5) Training. (a) The institution shall require annual training for each employee, individual who is involved in implementing an institution’s student grievance procedures, including each individual who is responsible for resolving complaints of reported power-based violence, or sexual misconduct policy violations, each Title IX coordinator at all institutions, and each employee of an institution who has responsibility for conducting an interview with an alleged victim of power-based violence. 

(b) Not later than January 1, 2022, the Board of Regents, in coordination with the attorney general and in consultation with state or local victim services organizations, shall develop the annual training program required by Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph. The Board of Regents shall annually review and revise as needed the annual training program. 

(6) Inter-campus transfer policy. Institutions shall implement a uniform transcript notation and communication policy to effectuate communication regarding the transfer of a student who is the subject of a pending power-based violence complaint or who has been found responsible for an incident of power-based violence pursuant to the institution’s investigative and adjudication process. The notation and communication policy shall be developed by the Board of Regents, in consultation with the postsecondary education management boards. The policy shall include procedures relative to the withholding of transcripts during the investigative and adjudication process. 

(7) A victims’ rights policy. The institution shall adopt a victims’ rights policy, which, at a minimum, shall provide for a process by which a victim may petition and be granted the right to have a perpetrator of an incident of power-based violence against the victim barred from attending a class in which the victim is enrolled. 

Acts 2021, No. 439, § 2 and  Acts 2021, No. 472, § 2, eff. June 29, 2021. Amended by Acts 2022, No. 374, § 1; Acts 2023, No. 211, § 1, eff. June 8, 2023.