Revision Responsibility: Title IX Coordinator

Responsible Executive Office: Vice President of Academic Affairs

Purpose: The purpose of this policy is to promote the safety and welfare of members of the Platt College community through compliance with the requirements of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (the HEOA). This protocol includes the official notification procedures of Platt College for students who deemed missing by peers and/or employees of the College.

Policy:

In compliance with the Federal Higher Education Opportunity Act, federal law, 20 U.S.C § 1092j, each student must pre-identify an emergency contact for any situation deemed an emergency with respect to a student’s well-being. Prior to beginning at Platt College, all potential applicants are required to name an emergency contact, found on the Application for Admission. Once an applicant becomes an enrolled student, s/he may update their emergency contact information by logging into their individual student account.

For the purposes of this policy, a student is determined to be missing when a member of the College community or law enforcement agency determines that the student has been missing for more than 24 hours, without any known reason, that the reported information is credible, and that circumstances warrant declaring the person missing. Because Platt College does not have on-campus housing, determining a student is missing is reliant on factors such as a student missing all classes/clinicals/labs beyond two weeks without notification and a warranted suspicion from a member of the College community (i.e. peer, employee) that the individual is missing.  If a student is suspected to be missing, Platt College will contact the emergency contact individual(s) listed in the student's portal.  If an emergency contact individual is not reached after several attempts, a determination will be made based on peer/employee information if law enforcement should be involved.  Emergency contact information will be held confidentially for use by the institution, and shared only on a need to know basis in the best interest of the student’s welfare. 

Revised into formal policy on April 7, 2016