Report to School

How does it work?

To report an incident of sexual assault or unwanted sexual contact, you can connect with Canisius College Title IX Coordinator by phone, email, or in-person.

Kathleen Brucato
Assistant Dean for Student Affairs & Title IX Coordinator
(716) 888-3781
[email protected]

Riley Munger
Event Coordinator/
Deputy Title IX Coordinator for Students
Frisch Hall 005
(716) 888-2193
[email protected]

Sheila Pettigrew
Employer Relations & Career Specialist/
Deputy Title IX Coordinator for Students
Old Main 013
(716) 888-2488
[email protected]

You can download a record form to your personal device to document what happened and bring that documentation to help you make a report in-person.

All faculty and staff, as well as students who receive payment for leadership roles and/or work study are considered “Mandated Reporters” and are required to share reports of sexual and relationship misconduct with the Title IX Coordinator (except for Health Center & Counseling Center staff). Students who are not employees of the college are encouraged to promote safety on campus by sharing any reports they receive about sexual and relationship misconduct with the Title IX Coordinator, as well.

Please note that student RAs are Mandated Reporters. They are trained to listen carefully, provide immediate support, and accompany you to report what happened. If you disclose sexual assault to your RA, they are required to inform the Title IX Coordinator. They can also help you report directly to the Title IX Coordinator.

Counseling Center staff and Student Health Center staff are confidential resources; as such, they cannot report to college officials any experiences about sexual and/or relationship violence that you share with them in the privacy of a counseling or medical session without your informed consent. If you want the college to investigate and/or want to use the student conduct system, you must make an official report to the Title IX Coordinator or other Mandated Reporters. The counselors health staff can accompany you during this process.

To speak with someone confidentially, contact;

Counseling Center: 716-888-2620, Bosch 105
Health Center: 716-888-2610, 2001 Main St.

What happens after I report?

If you report to a Canisius College “Mandated Reporter”, they will notify Kathleen Brucato, the Canisius College Title IX Coordinator, who will contact you within two business days of your report.

If you choose to report directly to Kathleen by speaking with her in person, she will explain to you your options and the associated procedures. She will also provide you with information about academic, housing, or safety related accommodations that you may want or need.

If you would like to proceed with an investigation, you will meet with a trained Title IX Investigator. You can learn more about investigations below.

Notes:

If the incident you are reporting happened before you were a Canisius College student, the available options may be different.
If the identified perpetrator is not affiliated with the school, they can still be banned from school property.

What is an investigation?

Canisius College is obligated to investigate any reports to the best of our ability and to provide a safe, nondiscriminatory environment for all. As such, any report you provide to the school will be investigated. If you do not wish for this to happen, you can speak with someone confidentially. If you do not want to take part in an investigation, Canisius College will proceed with minimal or no involvement from you.

If you choose to take part in an investigation, you will be interviewed by a trained Title IX investigator about what happened. They will not see your Callisto report unless you choose to print it out and provide it to them. If you identified a perpetrator, they will be interviewed separately as a part of the investigation.

At the conclusion of the investigation, the investigators will determine whether a Preponderance of the Evidence supports a finding that the policy was violated.

If Canisius College does not determine that a policy violation occurred, that does not mean that a sexual assault did not happen. It means that the investigation did not find a “Preponderance of Evidence”. This standard of evidence means that a hearing must determine whether a policy violation is “more likely than not” to have occurred or 51% likely to have occurred. The outcome of an investigation will not always be representative of what actually happened, and a finding of no violation does not change what happened to you.

If a policy violation is found as a part of the investigation, the sanctions will be based on the nature of the incident, any prior conduct violations, the sanctions resulting from those violations, and any other relevant facts. Possible sanctions include:

Probation
Suspension (removal from Canisius College for a minimum, designated length of time)
Expulsion (permanent removal from Canisius College)

Both you and the perpetrator have the right to appeal the outcome of the investigation. To do this, you’ll need to submit written notice to the Title IX Coordinator within 5 calendar days of the decision. The basis for the appeal must be one of the four following reasons:

To consider new information that was not available during the time of the investigation
To assess whether the written procedures were followed by Canisius College
To decide if the sanctions were disproportionate to the policy violation
To assess whether bias on behalf the investigators impacted the investigation

Learn more about the investigation & appeals process in Canisius College’s Community Standards.

Who is involved?

Reports of sexual assault or unwanted sexual contact are directed to the Title IX office.

You can report directly to Title IX or you can tell any Canisius faculty or staff about what happened. They are required to tell the Title IX Coordinator what you tell them, as a part of the Mandatory Reporting process.

The Canisius College President is notified that a sexual assault occurred, but your name will not be included. If the incident may get to the media, Public Relations is notified, but again your name will not be included. The school notifies others on a very limited and absolute need-to-know basis to keep you safe and to protect your privacy.

You will not have to interact with the perpetrator. You will be interviewed separately as part of the investigation. However, if you choose to pursue a student conduct case, you may have to interact with the perpetrator in a hearing.

Your parents will not be informed unless you tell them. Canisius College's primary relationship is to the student and not to the parent. College officials will inform your parents if you request for them to do so, or in a life-threatening situation.