Safety at any college or university is a natural source of concern for many: current and prospective students, their parents and college employees. Education, the "business" of St. Norbert College, can take place only in an environment in which each student and employee feels safe and secure. St. Norbert College recognizes this and employs a number of security measures to protect the members of its community.

The St. Norbert College Campus Safety department is administered by the director and associate director of Campus Safety who report to the vice president of Student Life. The department seeks to provide for the safety and security of its students and all members of the college community through its safety and crime prevention programs.

The Campus Safety department functions under the Division of Student Life. When a report is filed with Campus Safety, the matter may be referred to one of several offices for appropriate follow up, especially when special circumstances are present. These offices include but are not limited to: the Counseling Center, the Residential Life Office, the Associate Dean or the Vice President. In all cases, these matters are handled by professional staff in a way that is sensitive to those involved.

Staff Training
Campus Safety staff members receive training and have experience in the areas of safety and security. In-service workshops are conducted to ensure a prompt, professional response to incidents. Topics include patrol techniques, report writing, sensitivity training and first aid certification. Campus Safety officers provide a highly visible security presence through frequent patrols of and through the campus. They are also available to respond and provide assistance during emergency situations.

Reporting Criminal Incidents
Members of the college community are encouraged to promptly report criminal or suspicious activities to the Campus Safety office, located in room 120 of the Pennings Activity Center. The Campus Safety department can serve as a liaison between St. Norbert College students or employees and the De Pere Police Department, located a short distance away. Campus Safety routinely encourages students and employees to file reports with the De Pere Police Department, particularly in the aftermath of a serious or sensitive incident.

Residence Hall Issues
Safety and security issues in the College’s housing units are a high priority. Exterior doors of residence halls are locked at all times, and all are controlled electronically by card access readers. Residence hall directors are full-time professionals trained in the area of student learning and personal development. Hall staff provide residents with information on safety issues through programs, educational bulletin boards, floor meetings and posters.

Facility Access and Maintenance
Safety also ranks as a high priority among the College’s Facilities department. St. Norbert College employs its own staff for regular building maintenance and repair of doors, windows, lighting and related safety items. The Facilities department employs a locksmith—great care is taken to ensure keys are issued only to appropriate faculty, staff and students. Campus Safety staff is responsible for the daily locking/unlocking of most of the campus’ academic and administrative buildings, and maintains a contact listing for on-call facilities staff and outside contractors for after-hours response to and maintenance of security and/or building systems for all campus facilities.

Authority of Campus Safety Staff
Campus Safety staff members are not commissioned police officers and do not have powers of arrest. They do enforce campus rules and regulations and work very closely with members of the De Pere Police Department and other outside law enforcement agencies on a regular basis. Frequent meetings with these agencies are held to exchange crime-related information, reports and statistics.

Crime Prevention Outreach
Campus Safety strives to educate the St. Norbert College community on a variety of topics so students and employees develop solid safety habits. Programs offered include personal safety/self defense, sexual assault prevention, pepper spray defense, fire safety, office safety, vehicular safety and others. Special attention is oftentimes given in these programs to the roles that alcohol and drug use can play in safety-related situations. Campus Safety strives to collaborate with other groups such as the Office of Residential Life, Counseling Center, Women’s Center and the Health Center in coordinating these programs. Collaborative programming efforts are also made with a variety of student groups including the Student Government Association.

Community Awareness
The Campus Safety department provides a list of all incidents reported to it by members of the campus community. It is believed that sharing this important information in an appropriate manner will enable members of the St. Norbert community to learn about current campus safety issues so they can take proactive steps to prevent such events from occurring in the future.

Crime Log and Timely Warnings
A campus crime log containing this information is maintained in the Campus Safety office and is available for public inspection. In the event of serious crime, Campus Safety is very proactive in alerting and updating the campus community by issuing timely warnings. Information is distributed to all members of the campus community primarily via email but also by means of posters placed in residential, academic and other college facilities.

Off-campus Efforts
Although not directly responsible for off-campus security, the Campus Safety department works closely with the De Pere Police Department in monitoring and patrolling the neighborhood surrounding the St. Norbert College campus, where many students reside.

A listing of off campus residences housing St. Norbert students is kept and patrols of these areas are made on a regular basis. When responding to criminal incidents (both on-campus and off) that involve or affect the College, the De Pere Police Department routinely advises the Campus Safety department of these developments for informational and/or follow up purposes. The College incorporates a concurrent jurisdiction concept whereby off-campus student behavior can be adjudicated through the College’s judicial process.

Sexual Assault Prevention
Programs throughout the campus provide students with information about sexual assault. The programs are typically presented by the following offices: Counseling Center, Campus Safety, Housing and Health Center. All of the programs emphasize prevention, as well as fostering a community that encourages self-respect and respect for others, consistent with St. Norbert’s mission as a Catholic, Norbertine college.

The programs inform both students and employees on a wide variety of topics related to sexual assault, including: awareness and basic safety tips; acquaintance assault/date rape issues; encouraging safe dating behaviors; the role alcohol and other drugs often play in sexual assaults; and information about reporting assaults after they’ve occurred, including options and support services available to the person who was assaulted.

Sexual Assault Incidents
If a sexual assault does occur, the victim is encouraged to report the incident to the appropriate campus and municipal agencies. While the College respects the wishes of the victim in each situation, the option of involving law enforcement authorities is encouraged. Assistance and support will be provided to the victim throughout the reporting process should they choose to pursue the matter in this way.

When an assault suspect is a St. Norbert student, the victim will also have the option of pursuing the case through the College’s disciplinary system. The Student Conduct Process is carefully explained to student victims of sexual assault. All parties may be present during on-campus hearings and an advisor may accompany them if requested. At the conclusion  \of the Student Conduct Process, all parties are notified of the results of sexual assault hearings. When necessary, academic and living situations of those involved, but in particular the victim, can be changed to assist in their healing process.

St. Norbert College will not permit, under any circumstances, any person to violate the rights of any other person or to create an environment not appropriate to an educational and residential community. Students found responsible for sexually assaulting another student will be liable to all levels of college discipline, including suspension or expulsion.

If you are sexually assaulted:

• Get to a safe place as soon as you can.
• Try to preserve all physical evidence. Do not wash, use the toilet, or change clothing if you can avoid it. If you do change clothes, put all your clothing you were wearing at the time of the attack in a paper, not plastic, bag.
• Do not eat, drink liquids, smoke or brush teeth if oral contact took place.
• Get medical attention as soon as possible to make sure you are physically all right and to collect very important evidence in the event you may later wish to file a report. Today most national, state, and institutional protocols recommend that evidentiary exams be completed within 72 hours after a sexual assault.
• To report the assault, contact:
• • Campus Safety (x3260)
  • The De Pere Police Department (339-4078)
  • Or any of the following Student Life offices:
  • • Counseling Center (x3045)
    • Campus Ministry (x3012)
    • Housing (x3360), or
    • Student Health Center (x3266)

Following an incident, victims are encouraged to make a report to Campus Safety or the De Pere Police. This action does not obligate prosecution, but it does make legal action possible if the decision to prosecute is made later. The earlier an incident is reported, the easier it is to collect valuable evidence.

Usually, victims have the option of keeping their report confidential by making a report through the St. Norbert College Counseling Center unless the incident represents a threat to any member of the St. Norbert community. All sexual assault victims who file reports with Campus Safety are notified of available counseling as provided by the Counseling Center. For more information, please refer to the student handbook (The Citizen) and to the Counseling Center brochure "Options for St. Norbert College students who have been sexually assaulted...and for their friends."

The College complies with federal legislation which requires institutions of higher education to inform interested persons within the campus community about how information regarding registered sex offenders within the state can be obtained. This information can be found at the Wisconsin Department of Corrections Sex Offender Registry Database.

Policy on Alcohol and Other Drugs
St. Norbert College is committed to maintaining a drug-free work and campus environment in compliance with the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 and The Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act Amendment of 1989. The unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensing, possession or use of illicit drugs and unauthorized use of alcohol by college employees and students on college property or as part of college activities is prohibited. This policy is communicated to students via the Student Life Division’s brochure entitled Personal Choices, Institutional Policies.

With very few exceptions, alcohol is not sold at college functions. Exceptions are licensed special events which have the prior approval of the administration. Local ordinances and statutes are strictly enforced (with assistance from the De Pere Police Department when necessary) including underage drinking regulations.

St. Norbert College Alcohol Sanctions
Violations of the St. Norbert College alcohol policy are of two types: Status Offenses and Non-Status Offenses. Status offenses apply to underage (under age 21) students who have consumed or are in possession of alcohol, but are not otherwise causing a disturbance and do not appear to be intoxicated. Non-status offenses refer to individuals of any age who consume alcohol and behave in ways that are harmful to self or disruptive to their community (second-hand effects).

Such behaviors can include, but are not limited to, vomiting, slurred speech, difficulty balancing, unconsciousness, aggressive behavior and damage to property. Differentiating between status and non-status offenses is based upon the behavior of the individual and the judgment of the college administrator who hears the conduct case.

Reports of alleged policy violation are documented by Campus Safety staff and/or Residence Life. The College receives notification of students cited off-campus for violations of Wisconsin State Law via written reports from the De Pere Police Department. Officials in the greater Brown County community occasionally notify the College regarding violations of Wisconsin alcohol statutes at their discretion.

Students found responsible for violating the College alcohol policy will be sanctioned according to the guidelines for status and non-status offenses as published in The Citizen and in the Personal Choices, Institutional Policies brochure.

Administrators who hear a conduct case will consider written reports, a statement provided by the accused student, statements provided by witnesses and information provided by staff members (Residential Life and/or Campus Safety) who responded to the incident when determining whether the student(s) will be sanctioned as status or non-status offenders.

Expectations of Students Who Can Legally Use Alcohol
Students of legal age who decide to consume alcoholic beverages must do so in a responsible, mature fashion, must respect and abide by the State of Wisconsin alcohol law as relates to minors drinking, must respect those who decide not to use alcoholic beverages and must be proactive role models regarding the proper use of alcoholic beverages.

Should an individual or student organization be found responsible for violating the alcohol policy by providing or sharing alcohol with underage students, the individual student and/or the student organization will automatically be placed on disciplinary probation. This will occur whether the incident occurs on campus or off campus. Other sanctions to complement the behavioral sanction will be reviewed, to include dismissal of the student or dissolution of the student organization.

Weapons Policy
The College adheres to applicable statutes and local ordinances regarding the possession of firearms or other dangerous weapons. City ordinances prohibit public possession of firearms or other weapons, whether concealed or visible. Weapons are not permitted on campus; nor is there an authorized storage space for them. They are not allowed in college residence halls, apartment buildings or on any other college owned property.

Summary
Although St. Norbert College works hard to ensure the safety of all individuals within its community, students and employees themselves must take responsibility for their own personal safety and that of their personal belongings. Simple, common sense precautions are the most effective means of maintaining personal security.

For example, although the St. Norbert campus is well lighted and may appear safe, students walking across campus or to parking lots at night, whether male or female, should utilize the escort services provided by Campus Safety. Students living in residence halls should keep their room doors locked at all times and should never prop open external doors. All guests in the halls should be escorted by a resident at all times. Any harassing or obscene phone calls should be reported to hall staff or Campus Safety at once.

All valuable personal property should be engraved with the owner's driver’s license number, using equipment provided through Campus Safety. Bicycles should be registered with the De Pere Police Department and secured with a good lock. Cars should be locked and parked in well-lighted areas with all valuable items locked in the trunk. Students and employees should notify Campus Safety of any individual present in a building or on campus who appears to have no legitimate business there or who arouses suspicion in any way.

In short, it is incumbent upon all members of the St. Norbert College community to take proactive measures to protect themselves and their property. For more information, contact the director of Campus Safety at (920) 403-1346.

Crime Statistics
View the St. Norbert College crime statistics as required by federal Clery Act legislation.