Here to Help: Your options as a K-Stater
Options for students and employees
- You have the option to request reasonable changes to academic, living, transportation and working situations when available, regardless of whether a report is made to campus police or local law enforcement. For students, often the Office of Student Life, along with any applicable academic departments, will consider your request and will help facilitate changes. You may also request a "no contact" order, which in most cases will be issued simultaneously to the parties involved to preserve the status quo while the complaint is processed by the Office of Institutional Equity, unless otherwise imposed as a risk management measure by the university.
- You have the option to seek counseling and support.
- You have the option to preserve physical evidence of a sexual or physical assault through a forensic exam, free of charge and with or without reporting to law enforcement, to be obtained at your local hospital or medical facility.
- You have the option to seek a protection from abuse or a protection from stalking order from the applicable judicial court. Center for Advocacy, Response and Education, or CARE, can provide more information and assistance regarding the process to seek such an order. If you are on the Polytechnic campus in Salina, you may seek assistance with this process from the Academic & Student Services Office. Additional information on protection orders is available below.
- You have the option to report to the university if you have experienced sexual harassment, sexual violence, dating or domestic violence, or stalking by reporting to the Office of Institutional Equity; a support person may assist you throughout the university investigative process if it pertains to sexual violence or another crime.
- You have the option to request that the university take no further action.
- Any requests for the university to refrain from taking further action are subject to review and may be denied in an effort to protect others from harm or discrimination.
- You have the option to report any attempted or completed adverse retaliatory actions defined under PPM 3010 and for that report to be processed in accordance with that policy.
- You have the option to make a report to local law enforcement.
- You have the option to abstain from making a report to local law enforcement.
- You have the option to apply for Crime Victims Compensation through the Kansas Attorney General's Office.
Additional rights for K-State employees
Kansas law requires employers to provide survivors of sexual assault or domestic violence with at least eight days of leave each calendar year for any of the following reasons:
- Obtaining or trying to obtain a restraining order or similar injunctive relief for yourself or your children;
- Seeking medical care for injuries resulting from sexual assault or domestic violence;
- Obtaining services from a sexual assault or domestic violence advocacy program; or
- Appearing in court proceedings related to sexual assault or domestic violence.
- Your employer cannot discharge, discriminate or retaliate against you for taking this time away from work.
If you wish to take this leave, you should provide your employer with advance notice. Then, you must provide documentation of why you needed to take this leave within 48 hours after returning to work. Any employee who has such documentation may notify the Office of Institutional Equity or the CARE office to discuss options.
Allowable forms of documentation:
- A police report indicating that you experienced sexual assault or domestic violence;
- A court order protecting or separating you from the perpetrator of an act of sexual assault or domestic violence, or other evidence from the court or prosecutor that you appeared in court; or
- Documentation from a medical professional, sexual assault or domestic violence advocate, health care provider or counselor that you received treatment for physical or mental injuries caused by sexual assault or domestic violence.