Required state and federal notices

To: UCSC Community

From: Nader Oweis, Chief of Police, UC Santa Cruz Police Department; Steve Stein, Associate Vice Chancellor, Staff Human Resources ; Pamela Peterson, Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Personnel

The University of California, Santa Cruz, is committed to assisting all members of the community in providing for their safety and security. In compliance with a federal law known as the Jeanne Clery Act, the Annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Report 2015 (PDF) is online and also included as an attachment. More information can be found online.

The Clery Act—named by Congress in honor of 19-year-old Jeanne Clery, a Lehigh University student who was raped and killed in her dorm room—requires colleges and universities to disclose their security policies, keep a public crime log, publish an annual crime report, and provide timely warnings to students and campus employees about a crime posing an immediate or ongoing threat to students and campus employees.

The report contains information regarding campus security and personal safety including topics such as: crime prevention, fire safety, university police law enforcement authority, crime reporting policies, disciplinary procedures, and other matters of importance related to security and safety on campus. It also contains information about crime statistics for the three previous calendar years concerning reported crimes that occurred on campus; in certain off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by UC Santa Cruz; and on public property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus.

In addition to the report cited above, federal and state laws require the campus to annually share information about: 

  • obtaining information about registered sex offenders; 
  • getting help with drug and alcohol dependency; 
  • the campus nondiscrimination policy; 
  • California's mandatory reporting laws; and 
  • the Student Safety Bill.

Please continue reading below for more on each of these topics. Additionally, all required labor law notices are accessible online.

Information about registered sex offenders

Pursuant to the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act, institutions of higher education must annually provide the campus community with how law enforcement agency information concerning registered sex offenders may be obtained.

The State of California requires sex offenders to register with the police department in the jurisdiction in which they reside. The state makes this information available to law enforcement agencies. This information is available to the public at the local police/sheriff's department. For the UC Santa Cruz campus, information on registered sex offenders is available at the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, 701 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060, 831-454-2242.

Additionally, the Federal Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act provides for the tracking of convicted sex offenders enrolled at or employed at institutions of higher education.

California Penal Code §290.01 requires sex offenders who are enrolled as a student, or is, with or without compensation, a full-time or part-time employee, or is carrying on a vocation for more than 14 days, or for an aggregate period exceeding 30 days in a calendar year to register with the UC Santa Cruz Police Department within five working days of commencing enrollment or employment. The terms "employed or carries on a vocation" include employment whether or not financially compensated, volunteered, or performed for government or educational benefit. The registrant shall also notify the UC Santa Cruz Police Department within five working days of ceasing to be enrolled or employed, or ceasing to carry on a vocation.

Information on these registered sex offenders is available to the public at the UC Santa Cruz Police Department. Access to the data is by appointment only. Information on registered sex offenders is also available on the Megan's Law website.

More information about the UC Santa Cruz Police Department, the Clery Act or sex offender information can be found at police.ucsc.edu.

Help with drug, alcohol dependency

Drug and alcohol dependency are treatable conditions. The UC Santa Cruz Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is one resource available to assist those with dependency problems. All members of the campus community who feel that they may have a substance dependence should consider seeking help from this resource or the many community programs available locally.

To assist in efforts to achieve a campus free from the problems of substance abuse, UC Santa Cruz has adopted policies prohibiting the unlawful manufacture, sale, distribution, possession, or use of controlled substances and alcohol. Any member of the campus community who violates these policies will be subject to disciplinary action and possible criminal sanctions.

The attached notice describes UCSC policy related to substance abuse, and your responsibilities in complying with and enforcing them. It also provides practical advice on how to help a colleague or yourself.

For more information about UC Santa Cruz policies, please contact the Human Resources Analyst assigned to your unit. For confidential assistance under the EAP, please contact Optum at 1-866-808-6205 or visit liveandworkwell.com (access code: UCSC).

Nondiscrimination policy statement

UC Santa Cruz, in accordance with applicable federal and state law and university policy, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender expression, gender identity, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, or service in the uniformed services. The university also prohibits sexual harassment. This nondiscrimination policy covers admission, access, treatment in UC Santa Cruz programs and activities, and all employment practices. UC Santa Cruz policy also prohibits retaliation for bringing a complaint of discrimination or harassment, or participating in a complaint process or investigation pursuant to this policy. 

  • Inquiries regarding the university's nondiscrimination policies in employment, UC Santa Cruz's affirmative action, equal employment opportunity, and disability accommodations may be directed to the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at 831-459-3676, cbene@ucsc.edu
  • Inquiries regarding the UC Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment and Title IX may be directed to the Title IX Office at 831-459-2462 and ttsugawa@ucsc.edu. Additional information can be found at safe.ucsc.edu
  • Student inquiries regarding disability or disability accommodations may be addressed to the director of the Disability Resource Center at 831-459-2089 and drc@ucsc.edu

California mandatory reporting laws

As outlined by Penal Code §368 and Welfare and Institutions Code §15600 et al., the California Legislature enacted recent laws to require elderly and dependent adult care custodians, health practitioners, Adult Protective Services staff, law enforcement, and other designated agencies to report and to investigate incidents of abuse/neglect. The categories of abuse and neglect that must be reported by mandated parties now include: physical, sexual, financial, isolation, abandonment, abduction, neglect, mental suffering, and self-neglect.

California Penal Code §11160 requires prompt, mandatory reporting to the local law enforcement agency by healthcare practitioners (such as those at the Cowell Student Health Center) when they provide medical services to a person they know or reasonably suspect is suffering from wounds inflicted by a firearm or as a result of assaultive or abusive conduct.

The Child Abuse Neglect and Reporting Act (CANRA), codified in California Penal Code §§11164-11174.3, requires that employers of mandated reporters (as defined in the Act) promote identification and reporting of child abuse or neglect. It is the policy of the University of California to comply with its obligations under the Act; to require that all university employees and administrators who are mandated reporters make required reports to child protection or law enforcement agencies; and, more broadly, to encourage all members of the university community who observe, have actual knowledge of, or reasonably suspect child abuse or neglect at a university facility or perpetrated by university personnel to promptly report the concern to appropriate law enforcement, external officials and university officials. More information about the University of California CANRA Policy can be found at: policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000603/CANRA.

Student Safety Bill (AB 1433) 

Pursuant to California Education Code  §§67380(a)(6)(A), 67381 and 67383(a), the UC Santa Cruz Police Department must report immediately or as soon as practicably possible to the appropriate local law enforcement agency, all reports received by a campus security authority (CSA) of any Part 1 violent crime, sexual assault, or hate crime, committed on or off campus. This includes reports victims make directly to CSAs as well as reports victims make to other University employees that are then conveyed to the UC Santa Cruz Police Department or other CSAs.

Such reports will include, when the victim has consented to being identified: 

  • The name and characteristics of the victim; 
  • The name and characteristics of the perpetrator if known; 
  • Description of the incident, including location and date and time; and 
  • Any report number assigned to the police incident report documenting the investigation being conducted by the jurisdictional agency.