Advocacy Services

The Project Safe Center provides individual advocacy to VU community members impacted by any form of sexual misconduct, regardless of when or where it has occurred. Vanderbilt students, staff, faculty, and postdocs may call the 24-hour crisis and support hotline (615) 322-7233, call our office line (615)875-0660, or email us at projectsafe@vanderbilt.edu to schedule a phone or video appointment.

Project Safe is open for advocacy appointments during our usual business hours of Monday-Friday 8 AM to 5 PM.  In-person (scheduled or drop-in), Zoom or other video call, and phone call appointments remain available and may be scheduled by calling (615) 875-0660.  If you are already connected with a Victim Resource Specialist, please feel free to communicate with them directly via email.  Remember, we’re always available via our crisis and support hotline 24 hours a day at (615) 322-7233.

Any Project Safe advocacy meeting conducted via Zoom will utilize the Waiting Room feature to maintain privacy.  While rare, you could experience wait times of 15-60 minutes, depending upon if the Victim Resource Specialist is already meeting with another person.  If you need immediate assistance, please call the crisis hotline.

The Project Safe hotline is available 24 hours a day, and Project Safe staff answer that phone hotline.  If you prefer text support, another option is the national Crisis Text Line, which provides free, 24/7, high-quality text-based mental health support and crisis intervention by empowering a community of trained volunteers to support people in their moments of need. Text VANDY to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 to communicate with a trained crisis counselor, from anywhere in the United States, anytime, about any type of crisis.  Send a Text 

Additional Information: Resources and Support

Any member of the Vanderbilt community who has experienced or been impacted by sexual misconduct, including prior to their affiliation with Vanderbilt, may seek immediate and/or ongoing assistance from one or more of the resources outlined below.  Some of these resources are confidential; others are subject to mandatory reporting requirements.  This policy indicates the level of confidentiality offered by the listed resources.

Limited Confidential Resource
Individuals who work at the Project Safe Center, including front desk staff and graduate assistants, can generally talk to any person impacted by sexual misconduct without revealing any personally identifying information about an incident to others within the University.  A person can seek assistance and support from Project Safe Center staff without triggering a University investigation that could reveal that person’s identity or that the person has disclosed the incident.  However, a person who self-discloses to Project Safe Center staff that he/she/they (or other pronoun used by the student) engaged in a possible violation of this policy may not be entitled to limited confidentiality.

Without disclosing personally identifying information about the victim, the Project Safe Center will notify the Title IX Office of the nature, date, time, and general location of an incident.  The Project Safe Center will also notify the Title IX Office of the name of the alleged perpetrator, if known, when the alleged perpetrator is affiliated with Vanderbilt University as a faculty member, staff member, postdoctoral fellow/trainee, teaching assistant, independent contractor, adviser, or in any other similar capacity, other than as a student.  This notification helps keep the Title IX Office informed of the general extent and nature of sexual violence on and off campus, and allows for tracking patterns, evaluating the scope of the problem, and formulating appropriate campus-wide responses.

Project Safe Center staff can assist in providing additional information, including potentially identifying information, to the Title IX Office, if the victim so wishes.  Anyone who at first notifies Project Safe Center staff may later decide to make a report to the Title IX Office or law enforcement.

Project Safe Center staff can assist a victim with interim remedial and protective measures; however, the provision of interim measures that involve a non-confidential University department or impact another person may require the disclosure of identifying information to the relevant department and person as well as the Title IX Office.

While Project Safe Center staff may maintain a victim’s confidentiality vis-a-vis the University, they may have reporting obligations under state and federal law, which include:

• Reporting incidents involving victims who are minors;
• Disclosing information regarding a threat of imminent harm to self or others;
• Testifying if subpoenaed in a criminal case; and
• Complying with other federal, state, and local laws.

In addition, if Project Safe Center staff determines that the respondent poses a serious and/or immediate threat to the University community (based on, for example, the nature and severity of the incident or whether there is a pattern of misconduct), they will disclose all relevant information to the appropriate University authorities, including, but not limited to, the Title IX Office.

Project Safe Center staff will provide non-identifying information, similar to that provided to the Title IX Office, to the Vanderbilt University Police Department (VUPD) for crime statistics reporting under the Clery Act.  The information reported may result in the issuance of a timely warning or security notice to the community, but the warning will not include any information that identifies the victim.

For more information about the services provided by the Project Safe Center and for contact information for Project Safe Center staff, please visit https://vanderbilt.edu//projectsafe/.

Supportive Measures 
Vanderbilt will implement appropriate interim supportive remedial and protective measures on its own initiative or in response to a request from a student. Supportive measures are not punitive and are intended to provide support and relief to the parties involved in or affected by sexual misconduct.

Parties may request supportive measures from the Project Safe Center or from the Title IX Office, the Office of Student Accountability, Community Standards, and Academic Integrity (Student Accountability) or the Associate Dean of Students for Community Standards and Student Support.  Parties may request supportive measures even in cases where an investigation is not undertaken or either party has declined to participate in the University proceeding or the criminal process.  In all instances, the University will determine the reasonableness of the request and the Title IX Coordinator will oversee the interim measure(s) provided.

Supportive measures for students may include, but are not limited to:

• access to on-campus counseling services and assistance in setting up an initial appointment;
• no contact orders issued by Student Accountability;
• rescheduling of academic exams and assignments;
• providing alternative course completion options;
• changing class schedules, including the ability to transfer course sections or withdraw from a course;
• changing work schedules, job assignments, or job locations for University employment;
• changing residence hall assignments;
• providing an escort for transit between classes and activities;
• providing academic support services, such as tutoring;
• student-requested leaves of absence.

Supportive measures for faculty, staff, and postdoctoral fellows/trainees may include, but are not limited to:

• access to on-campus counseling services and assistance in setting up an initial appointment;
• changing work schedules, job assignments, or job locations;
• providing an escort for transit around campus.