Yale is committed to maintaining a campus that is safe and respectful, where all can

thrive. In accordance with this commitment, we have intensified our efforts in recent
years to address and prevent sexual misconduct on our campus through the creation
and expansion of policies and programs and the active engagement of the university
community. Among our goals is to ensure that members of the community are well
informed about our resources and about options for reporting incidents, and comfortable
in accessing those resources and pursuing those options. Accordingly, we are eager to
identify and address any barriers that discourage individuals from accessing our
resources and bringing complaints forward. Importantly, in response to concerns
brought forth in our community, we have worked hard to assure individuals
(complainants and respondents) that their information will be treated confidentially by
Title IX coordinators and others who administer Title IX processes. Consequently, the
university will not confirm or deny the existence of any case or the individuals involved
in a case.

In regard to the responsibilities of participants, Yale’s confidentiality policies differ for its
informal and formal Title IX processes. Participants in an informal process are neither
required nor expected to maintain confidentiality. Participants in a formal Title IX
adjudication, on the other hand, are asked to protect the fairness and integrity of the
process by maintaining confidentiality, and they are explicitly prohibited from disclosing
documents that they create or receive for the process. If parties or witnesses in a
formal adjudication fear that their participation or testimony could be revealed, then
concerns about reputation, social tension, or retaliation may cause them to keep silent.
It is important to understand, however, that persons bringing formal complainants are
not prohibited from discussing the events that form the basis of their complaints, and
Yale does not require participants in a formal process to sign a non-disclosure
agreement.

Yale remains committed to processes and practices that further our mission to educate
our students, address conduct that falls short of our norms, and provide consistent
outcomes that reflect the nuances of the complaints that are brought forward. Our
sexual misconduct policies set high standards for student conduct, with discipline
occurring even in cases involving ambiguity. Our decision makers work hard and
conscientiously to calibrate discipline appropriate for each case, taking into account all
relevant factors, while upholding the principle that these are educational processes.