The Clery Act requires institutions that maintain on campus housing facilities to establish a missing student notification policy and related procedures (20 USC 1092 (j) Section 488 of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008). The missing residential student notification policy applies when a student lives in on-campus housing, is reported missing, or there is a concern that they have not been seen in their residence room for over 24 hours. This could be reported from a variety of sources. When reported, the Office of Campus Safety will begin an investigation.
Who to contact
Students are advised that their first contact related to a person missing beyond 24 hours should be with a staff member from Residence Life and Housing, Student Affairs, or the Office of Campus Safety.
Report
Residence Life staff members (RAs and Area Coordinators) are required to report the missing student up their supervisory line to the Director of Residence Life and Housing, who has responsibility for gathering this information and then informing the Vice President of Student Affairs and the Director of Campus Safety.
Investigate
Following this reporting would be an investigation that includes a delegation of phone calls to all known phone numbers for the individual, attempts at personal contact, phone calls to friends, a check of their card access, a check of their food service access records, a physical check for their vehicle on campus, a check of their classroom participation and activity participation.
Confidential Contact Person
All students who live on campus are notified of their option of providing the University with a confidential contact person. This is the person they choose to be notified in the event of an emergency, and this is also used if the student is determined to be missing. Only authorized Campus Safety officials and law enforcement officers, in the furtherance of a missing person investigation, may have access to using this information. The Dean of Student Affairs may choose to notify or contact others, in order to make the greatest impact on finding the missing student.
Notification of Confidential Contact and updating
Students are notified through email, that they may enter and update their confidential contact person by accessing Self-Service.
Notifying Law Enforcement
When the university has been informed that a student has been missing for over 24 hours, and when none of these attempts to contact the student and verify their whereabouts is successful, within the 24 hours that follow becoming notified, then the Office of Campus Safety will contact the Salem Police Department. The report will include the status of the investigation, including all prior attempts to contact the student, and will be passed along to them.