UConn has launched a comprehensive new website to simplify and streamline the process by which students, faculty, staff and others can more easily locate and use the University’s many resources to report concerns and find support.
The InForm website — inform.uconn.edu — was developed through a partnership of many University departments and spearheaded by the Division of Student Affairs after some members of the campus community told President Thomas Katsouleas they did not always know where to locate the appropriate resources and support for the issue they faced.
While those reporting processes and support services have been in place and are actively used, they previously were located primarily on the websites of the departments charged with administering the policies and providing the services.
The new site simplifies the process by letting people go to the InForm site as a central resource where they also can use a “form finder” tool to locate the best report for their situation depending on their identity, the identity of the other party or parties involved, the type of incident, and other factors.
“It is my sincere hope that this site demystifies the reporting process and helps reporters feel confident that their concerns will be addressed appropriately and know that support is available to them,” Katsouleas said in a letter to the UConn community on Thursday, October 8, announcing the launch of the site.
“We speak of ourselves as UConn Nation, and I would like for that term to be synonymous with a community that cares deeply about one another,” he wrote. “As Connecticut’s flagship university, our highest aspirations can only be reached when all of us feel welcome, supported, and heard. We created InForm because we value every member of our community and care about your concerns.”
Types of incidents that can be reported through InForm include academic integrity or scholarly misconduct; bias-related incidents; violations of policy or law; crime, including anonymous tips; discrimination and/or harassment; hazing; concerns about off-campus parties; workplace concerns; safety threats, to oneself or others; sexual and gender misconduct; student or student organization behavior; or other incidents.
The resources have been in place and in use on various University sites to report all such incidents and seek support; the existing forms and websites are not changing or going away. InForm will act as a hub for accessing all those forms from one place, providing a greater level of guidance to the user in a moment that is likely to be stressful.
“Having these forms and resources located in one place is going to make it easier for students to report bias-related incidents and know about support services that are available to us,” says Breanna McFarlane ’22 (CLAS), one of the students who participated in a workgroup to develop the site.
“Furthermore, it will allow the administrators to be more informed about incidents that are happening at UConn, so they can take better care of the diverse student population,” she says. “I think that this website will definitely be a step towards further connecting the UConn community with the administrators.”
InForm is available to anyone coming into contact with the UConn community, including students, faculty, staff, visitors, and community members who have a concern to report, including bystanders.
The site was developed at Katsouleas’ direction by a workgroup that included UConn students and employee representatives from the offices of Community Standards, the Dean of Students, Diversity and Inclusion, Institutional Equity, Off-Campus and Commuter Student Services, Student Activities, and the UConn Police Department.
