By Scotty Ninh, Nov. 26, 2024
Cal Poly Pomona launched a website called Report @ CPP Oct. 2 to incentivize the use of reporting resources by streamlining the process for students, staff and faculty.
The Report @ CPP website is a landing page that lists different report forms depending on the case a person may be experiencing. The options cover discrimination, behavioral misconduct, academic dishonesty, threatening behavior and sexual violence.
This website aims to make locating specific report forms easier and to provide a more user-friendly experience.
“That’s kind of how Report @ CPP came to fruition, directly from the community,” said Jonathan Grady, senior associate vice president and dean of students. “And by creating this, we wanted to ensure no one from our community should have to question and wonder, ‘Where do I go if I have a concern?’”
The page separates links based on who may be reporting an incident, including a subsection for students, staff or faculty. There are also tabs providing multiple resources for the same type of crisis. For example, people experiencing discrimination, sexual violence or retaliation can submit a report online, call 911 or call campus police.
However, this website does not replace or change any of the actual forms or methods of reporting. Anonymous reporting remains unaffected, according to Dawnita Franklin, assistant vice president for Institutional Equity and Compliance and Title IX coordinator .
The choice for anonymous forms is only dedicated to certain occurrences such as Title IX cases, she said.
How data is used by departments also remains unaffected. Not only are reports used for the departments to further investigate cases, but according to Grady, they are often used to analyze common patterns that could be a point of concern.
According to interim assistant dean of students, Weston Prisbrey, Report @ CPP was not made to replace any systems or resources but rather to help users find the resources they need more quickly and easily, especially in cases of emergencies. The program aims to remove barriers to access essential resources.
“It’s important to understand that Report @ CPP doesn’t change our process,” said Franklin.
“That page is designed as a resource, so that students who don’t know where to report this concern, they can access this page and read, and they’re like, ‘Oh, this goes to Title IX.’ And once they click on that link and they fill out the form, it goes directly to my office as would if you were to go directly to the website.”
A concern among those working within the Division of Student Affairs was the amount of reporting forms and their disorganization, making it difficult for the users to find a report form best tailored to the incident they experienced.
Those working in the Division of Student Affairs hoped to alleviate those pains by giving students a quick-and-easy-to-navigate hub, linking them to resources they need. It is also projected this addition can further incentivize students, staff and faculty to report any and all cases, as it is much more convenient to find the forms they need.
“We know just who our students are and who we serve,” said Prisbrey. “Over 55% of our students are first-generation college students, and so it’s not fair of us to ask or require them to know how to navigate university websites or how to understand the difference between certain departments and what report goes where. And that’s another reason why Report @ CPP was created. It was to alleviate that burden or remove that burden from folks who aren’t familiar with campus but still need to and want to report.”
With this new website in particular, the Division of sSudent Affairs expressed their hope students feel heard as they acknowledged hurdles that came with navigating university websites.
“My hope is that Report @ CPP serves as a beacon of hope, that we are here for you,” said Grady. “Your concerns are valid and real, and we take your concerns seriously, and we want to ensure that we’re there to support you in intentional and loving ways.”
There are currently no plans to make any changes to the website. According to Franklin, the Division of Student Affairs is instead focused on making observations with how people are responding to the website before they look into ways they can improve the user experience on Report @ CPP.
Feature image courtesy of Scotty Ninh
