Do you have to put your face out there?
Facilitator: When the respondent appeals, then the person goes to the
board of students and all of that stuff.
Participant 1: See, who wants to go through all of that?
Participant 2: See, [...] if it's not anonymous, like who's going to want to ...
Participant 3: Yeah.
Participant 2: I don't know, like, if it was me in that situation, I wouldn't want everybody to know, and be all like public about it. So, if you're saying that you have to appeal to a whole bunch of people, then I don't know..
Facilitator: So, your question would be...
Participant 2: Is there a way for it to be anonymous even if we report it? [...]
Participant 3: I feel like that's what you have to do. Like, you have to put your face out there.
[...]
Facilitator: Um, just to clarify - so, you want to know if there is a way [...] for you to go through the process of reporting, without letting the entire school know that this happened?
Participant 1: Yes! 'Cause the whole school doesn't need to know about that. It's fine for them to be like, "Oh, a situation happened," but nobody needs to know, who [or] when.
Participant 3: It's going to come out.
Participant 2: Just the less people that deal with it, the less likely it's going to come out.
Participant 4: At least if you're going through it [the policy] it stays confidential.
Recommendations
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Use an app or other tool that allows students to anonymously ask questions about sexual violence and university policies against sexual violence.
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In the policy itself and in materials and presentations promoting the policy, define "confidential" and "anonymous," and explain how these concepts pertain to the policy, university-based sexual assault services, and the limits on confidentiality and anonymity.