Faculty safety
On this webpage, you will find a number of key resources for faculty. The information will be updated regularly and is organized into three sections:
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Getting support for yourself
Campus Safety
Campus Safety operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with a mission to promote a safe and secure living, learning and working environment by providing a variety of services including:
- Preventative patrols
- Referral to resources and services
- De-escalation and positive conflict resolution
- In-person and online reporting for incidents such as lost property, vandalism and theft
- Safety escorts
- Vehicle battery jumps
- Key and card access
- Lost and found
- Campus community training
- Emergency preparedness
- Environmental health and safety
Employee Assistance Program
The Washington State Employee Assistance Program (WA EAP) supports PEBB-eligible University of Washington employees and their household members to help identify and resolve personal concerns to promote individual and workplace well-being.
WA EAP provides short-term, solutions-focused counseling services that are easy to access. Information about counseling and crisis support can be found on the “Counseling through WA EAP” page.
SafeCampus
SafeCampus provides support for faculty, staff and students to prevent violence and respond to incidents. They discuss safety and well-being concerns for yourself or others, listen to your concerns, and provide individualized care, support and safety plans tailored to your situation. SafeCampus can be contacted anonymously. Calling SafeCampus is not the same as making a “formal” complaint/report to the University of Washington. You can call SafeCampus and consult with them before choosing whether to file a more formal complaint with the University of Washington’s Office of the Title IX Coordinator or the University of Washington’s Civil Rights Investigation Office.
Reasons to reach out:
- Experiences (yours or someone else’s) including:
- Inappropriate behavior from a student, staff or faculty member
- Verbal or online threats
- Neglect or abuse of a minor
- Sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking or relationship violence
- Concerning behaviors in another person, including:
- Dramatic changes in personality, mood or behavior
- Withdrawing from friends, the workplace or academics
- Unusual irritability, outbursts of anger or violence
- Making comments or online posts about harming themselves or others
- Crossing boundaries (for instance, excessive phone calls, emails and/or visits)
- Inappropriate, confusing or disjointed conversations
- Making references to school shootings and/or identifying with mass shooters
SafeCampus also offers regular training to faculty, staff and students to support violence prevention and response at the UW.
Office of Faculty Success
The Office of Faculty Success can support faculty in navigating UW policies and procedures and direct them to the appropriate resources to address their concerns and needs.
Dean or school leadership
Leadership can offer support for telework and changing course modalities (see below), help with reporting workplace safety concerns, and navigating safety concerns related to departmental/school colleagues or alumni.
Ombud
The Office of the Ombud is a place where all members of the University of Washington community can seek information, consultation and assistance. Each year, the Ombud Office collaborates with hundreds of individuals who are facing challenges. We provide a safe environment to voice concerns and develop constructive options to address the situation.
Learning & Teaching Collaborative
The Learning & Teaching Collaborative (LTC) supports Bothell campus instructors at all levels, from graduate teaching assistants to full professors. Instructors can schedule a consultation to identify strategies to address pedagogical challenges, including classroom behaviors and challenging student interactions. If you are concerned about student conduct violations, those should be discussed with the Office of Student Conduct (see below).
Reporting issues of concern
Documenting issues
Even if you are not sure there is a clear incident, make sure to document/save everything in case it becomes something you want to report later. Information from emails, Canvas messages, etc., can be helpful in the event you need to file a report.
Student conduct concerns
Student conduct concerns should be reported to student conduct.
The University’s Student Conduct Code is Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 478-121. The University has also developed two companion policies, Student Governance Policy, Chapter 209 (Academic and behavioral misconduct) and Chapter 210 (Discriminatory and sexual misconduct), which explain how student conduct proceedings work and a student’s rights in the process.
If you have questions regarding an alleged violation of the Student Conduct Code please contact us at 425-352-3183 or uwb-studentconduct@uw.edu.
If you believe a conduct violation has occurred, make sure to submit a written report, rather than just emailing, calling or dropping in.
Workplace violence concerns
The University of Washington is committed to providing a safe workplace. The University does not tolerate behavior, whether direct or through the use of University facilities, property or resources that:
- Is violent
- Threatens to harm
- Harasses or intimidates others
- Interferes with an individual’s legal rights of movement or expression
- Disrupts the workplace, the academic environment or the University’s ability to provide services to the public.
- Violent or threatening behavior can include: physical acts, oral or written statements, email messages, telephone calls, gestures and expressions.
You can find more information, including a full list of behaviors of concern, on UW’s Human Resources Workplace Violence website.
The University has established procedures that employees must follow to report behaviors of concern. Faculty should report concerns to their immediate supervisors (deans), who are required to report those concerns to SafeCampus. Faculty can also report concerns directly without involving a supervisor.
Occupational safety concerns
All work-related injuries, illnesses, exposures, fires, property damage and near-miss events involving UW personnel must be reported via the UW Online Accident Reporting System (OARS) within 24 hours of the incident.
If you have a safety concern (but not an incident or near-miss incident), report it to your supervisor (dean) and the UW’s Department of Environmental Health & Safety. A safety concern is a condition or situation that you believe could become unsafe. Visit EH&S reporting page to create a report. Reports can be sent anonymously.
Other safety concerns
To learn more about other policies relevant to faculty workplace safety, including discrimination, harassment, abuse and whistleblower protections, see UW’s Safety in the Wordplace page for academic personnel.
Changing teaching/work modalities
- Changing modality of one-on-one or small group meetings with students: Faculty can do this at any time. If continuing to meet in person, you can also request support from Campus Safety, including a space safety assessment.
- Changing modality of a class (session or remainder of class): Faculty are able to determine the modality of meeting with students while going through a safety process. They need to notify their dean/chair of their plans for the remainder of the process/quarter. If those plans extend into the next quarter, faculty will need to work with their school to formally change the modality in the system.