Missing Student Notification (D-56)
Original Implementation: July 20, 2010
Last Revision: None
Purpose:
This policy, along with its accompanying procedures, establishes a framework for cooperation among members of the university community, in accordance with the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, aimed at locating and assisting currently enrolled students who reside in on-campus student housing and have been reported missing.
Any person having reason to believe that a student may be missing should immediately contact the University Police Department. The University Police Department shall investigate each report and immediately notify the appropriate university administration.
A student is presumed to be missing when his or her absence is inconsistent with his or her established patterns of behavior, and the deviation cannot be readily explained. Before presuming that a person is missing, reasonable measures should be taken to determine whether or not the student is at another place of residence and whether or not anyone familiar with the person has seen or heard from the person recently or is aware of where he or she may be.
Contact Information:
All students shall have an opportunity to designate a contact person who will be notified in the event the student is determined to be missing. This contact information is separate from the emergency contact information a student may have provided as part of the registration process and will not be disclosed outside of a missing person investigation.
If a student fails to provide a separate contact person to be notified in a missing person investigation, the university may contact any person listed as an emergency contact for the student.
If the student deemed missing is younger than 18 years of age and is not emancipated, the University Police Department is required to notify the parent or guardian of the missing student within 24 hours after that determination is made.
Procedure:
- Anyone who suspects a student may be missing should notify the University Police Department immediately at 936-468-2608.
- Any report of a missing student made to a university office or employee, should be directed immediately to the University Police Department at 936-468-2608.
- When a student is reported missing, the University Police Department shall;
- Initiate an investigation to determine the validity of the missing person report;
- Notify the vice president for university affairs;
- Make a determination as to the status of the missing student;
- If the student is determined to be missing:
- notify the confidential contact person identified by the missing student as the emergency contact within 24 hours;
- notify the dean of student affairs and the director of student services;
- If the student has failed to provide a confidential contact person, notification may be made to any person listed as an emergency contact for the student;
- Notify the student’s custodial parent or guardian as contained in the records of the university within 24 hours of the determination that the student is missing if the student is younger than 18 years of age and is not emancipated.
- The vice president for university affairs shall initiate any action he or she deems appropriate under the circumstances to be in the best interest of the missing student.
- The University Police Department may request the assistance of other law enforcement agencies as deemed necessary in the investigation.
Awareness:
A statement of this policy and the missing student notification procedures shall be provided in the university’s annual security report in accordance with federal law and regulations.
The dean of student affairs shall have the responsibility to inform students of the provisions of this policy, and the procedures set forth above.
Cross Reference: 20 U.S.C. § 1092(j); 34 C.F.R. § 668.46
Responsible for Implementation: Vice President for University Affairs
Contact for Revision: Chief of University Police
Forms: None