Most universities do a poor job in communicating to students the procedures necessary to file a formal sexual harassment complaint with the institution. The steps involved in filing complaints with federal regulatory agencies or the courts are rarely communicated at all.
 

In this section, we will present the procedures involved in filing a formal sexual harassment complaint with the following:
 

•  a college or university,
• the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education,
• the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and
• state or federal court.

Students who have been victimized by sexual harassment have a number of options concerning where to file a complaint. These include:
 

(1)  College or University
 

Students who wish to file a sexual harassment complaint with the college or university can typically do so by contacting any of the following offices
 
• Students Affairs or Student Services
• Affirmation Action
• Student Advocate or Ombudsperson
Filing a complaint usually involves providing a signed written statement of the allegations and any supporting evidence. This type of complaint results in a formal investigation of the allegations. Some institutions allow students to file informal or verbal complaints that do not trigger a formal investigation.

Students should realize that university officials have a vested interest in protecting the institution. Consequently, victims often feel like: (1) their complaints and evidence are not taken seriously, (2) potential criminal violations are not referred to appropriate state or federal prosecutors, (3) university investigations are slow moving, incomplete, and unprofessionally conducted, and (4) punishments for offending professors are either non-existent or so mild as to constitute a "slap on the wrist".

Although most universities strongly encourage students to file sexual harassment complaints internally, there are other options available, as described below.

Student victims of sexual harassment have two options when filing a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at The U.S. Department of Education.

• First, a student may complete and submit a complaint form directly to OCR, without first filing a complaint with the university. In this case, the statute of limitations for direct filing is 180 days from the last occurrence of the sexual harassment.
 
• Second, a student may file a complain with a university, wait until their complaint is resolved, and then file with the OCR. Once a complaint is submitted to a university, OCR regulations require a student to allow the institution to complete its own internal complaint process before filing with the OCR. In this instance, the state of limitations is 60 days from the date when the university issued its final report on the complaint investigation.

OCR Complaint Form and Address

The complaint form used by the OCR and the addresses of the regional OCR offices can be accessed below:

OCR Complaint Form (click here)
OCR Regional Office Addresses (click here)