Safety Policies & Programs

The Student Handbook, issued to every student, contains the complete policy on the possession and use of alcohol and drugs. In brief, Chatham University supports the Pennsylvania State Law concerning the purchase, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol and drugs. All students are obligated to abide by these laws; any infraction makes them liable for punitive action from the state. The University will not be responsible for, nor offer protection to, a student’s violation of these laws. In addition, the University expects students to refrain from involving themselves and others in any violation of these laws.

Unless authorized by the President, alcoholic beverages are not permitted at any student function at the University sponsored by a recognized student, group, or organization. Likewise, no University funds, including student activity fees, are to be spent on alcohol by student groups or organizations or other representatives, unless authorized by the office of the President.

The University has developed a program to prevent the illicit sale or use of drugs and the abuse of alcohol by students and employees. The program provides services related to drug use and abuse including dissemination of information materials, educational programs, counseling services, referrals and University disciplinary actions.

Chatham's Medical Marijuana Policy is located on MyChatham.

Chatham provides on-campus housing to undergraduate students. Undergraduate housing consists of five student residence halls, Fickes, Rea, Laughlin, Dilworth and Woodland, that offer single, double, triple and quad rooms and the Chatham, Chung, Duplex, Haber, Hicks Estate, Linzer, and Pelletreau Apartments, which offer apartments on or near 5th Avenue bordering the main part of campus. Students can live in Orchard Hall at Eden Hall Campus as well.

All residence halls and apartments are locked at all times, and students are issued an id/access control card that controls access to the Residence Halls and most of the apartments. Students living at the Duplex, Haber, and Hicks Estate Annex access the building and their apartment utilizing keys. During the winter break and during the summer, the Access Control System deactivates all card access to the Residence Halls and Apartments, except those that are authorized to enter. Students are educated as to the importance of safeguarding their id cards and room keys as well as the need to properly secure all doors and windows. All students are expected to sign in their guests, and non-Chatham visitors are not allowed into the residence halls unless accompanied by a Chatham resident and signed into the guest book. Overnight visitors are permitted, for up to three consecutive nights, with the exception of fall semester. First-year students are not permitted overnight guests until late September at the completion of the Battle of the Classes campus tradition. Every individual student room has locks on all doors and windows. Each student is issued a key to their individual room. During business hours, the University (excluding the above mentioned residence halls and apartments) will be open to students, parents, employees, contractors, guests and invitees. During non-business hours, access to all University facilities is by key, if issued, or by admittance via the campus police. Campus police will admit only those with a valid room access pass.

Residence Life staff members work in cooperation with Public Safety as well as Facilities Management to provide a safe and secure living environment for all residents. The Director of Residence Life manages the residential program with the assistance of the professional and paraprofessional staff.  The paraprofessional staff is comprised of Graduate Resident Directors who live in the residence halls sharing responsibility for the well being of all residents. Each residence hall is managed by a Graduate Resident Director (GRD) who is available to provide counseling and advice, to supervise the Resident Assistants (RAs) within the building, to manage facilities, to enforce community standards, and to provide emergency coverage to address other major issues within the residence halls. Professional staff members work in cooperation with Public Safety as well as Facilities Management to provide a safe and secure living environment for all residents.

All students receive a copy of the Chatham Student Handbook, which describes all residence hall policies and procedures. In addition, all residence halls have periodic meetings during which these policies are reviewed and clarified. When appropriate, additional notices are distributed and posted to remind students of particular regulations.

If you are the victim of a crime and do not want to pursue action within the University system or the criminal justice system, you may still want to consider making a confidential report. With your permission, the Director or a designee of the Chatham University Public Safety department can file a report on the details of the incident without revealing your identity.

Community members, students, faculty, staff, and guests are encouraged to report all crimes and public safety related incidents to the Chatham University Police Department ("CUPD") in a timely manner.

To report a crime or an emergency, call the CUPD at 412-365-1111. To report a non-emergency security or public safety related manner, call the CUPD at 412-365-1230.

Campus Police are available at these respective telephone numbers 24 hours a day to answer your call. In response to a call, the CUPD will take the required action, dispatching an officer or asking the victim to report to the CUPD to file an incident report.

All incident reports are forwarded to the Director of Public Safety for review and potential action, Investigators will investigate a report when it is deemed appropriate. If assistance is required from the Pittsburgh Police Department, the CUPD will contact that Department. If a sexual assault or rape should occur, staff on the scene, including the CUPD, will offer the victim a wide variety of services, including Crisis Consultation by trained individuals who are available to assist a victim.

Crimes should be reported to the CUPD to ensure inclusion in the annual crime statistics and to aid in providing timely warning notices to the community, when appropriate.

In the event of an emergency on the campus, large scale emergency or disaster off campus, severe weather condition, or other event or emergency that could have an effect on the operations of the University and/or affect the safety of our community members, the emergency notification system will be used to communicate important information/instructions to our community members. Only the President, President's Council Members, Vice President of Finance and Administration, Director of Facilities Management, and/or Director of Public Safety can authorize the activation of the emergency notification system.

OmniAlert – a web-based system that allows community members to sign up so they can receive urgent text messages from the University on their mobile phone and/or e-mail. Signing up for this program is mandatory for students.

Chapel Bells – the Chapel bells have the ability to act like an "air raid" siren system. The system uses three types of alerts. An "alert horn" will be sounded to alert all community members to go to a classroom, office, room, etc. and lock themselves in ("lock down"), a "siren" will be sounded to alert community members to seek shelter either in the lowest part of a building or the center part of a building, and a “bell” will be sounded as an "all clear."

Voicemail – a voicemail message will be send to all campus telephones that are on the University's telephone system.

Email – an email message will be sent to all campus email address.

Telephone Switchboard – in the event that nobody is available to answer the University’s main switchboard, a message will be placed on the telephone switchboard.

In the event that a person is missing more than 24 hours or less than 24 hours as notes below, the campus police will be notified. Campus police will comply with the following:

1. Campus police will interview the person making the complaint in order to obtain the information to determine the reason the complainant is reporting the person missing.
2. Campus police will gather all essential information about the person including clothing description, where/when subject was last seen, who they may be with, vehicle description, etc.
3. Campus police will also gather information about the physical and mental well being of the individual.
4. A quick, but thorough search will be conducted in all campus buildings and parking lots.
5. If the missing person is a student, the student’s room will be checked and Student Affairs notified. If the missing person is a faculty or staff member, their office/department will be checked and Academic Affairs or Human Resources will be notified.

• Missing person is under 18
• Out of the zone of safety for his or her age and physical and mental condition
• Mentally diminished
• Drug dependent
• A potential victim of foul play or sexual exploitation
• In a life-threatening situation
• Absent from home for more than 24 hours before being reported to a law enforcement agency as missing
• Believed to be with a person who could endanger their welfare
• Is absent under circumstances inconsistent with established patterns of behavior

The campus police will not wait 24 hours but will immediately request assistance from the Pittsburgh Police in order to make entry into the Unidentified Persons File through the Commonwealth Law Enforcement Assistance Network (CLEAN) in accordance with Pennsylvania State Police policy and procedures. If appropriate, an AMBER Alert will be issued and/or other immediate community notification methods, if available will be activated.

Students may file an emergency contact person with the campus police. This information will be kept confidential.

Students under 18 and not emancipated will require the notification of a custodial parent or guardian.

All members of the campus community and visitors are prohibited from possessing or carrying weapons of any kind while on University property, regardless of whether they are licensed to carry the weapons or not. Such prohibition extends to individuals having weapons in briefcases, purses, tool boxes, personal vehicles, or other personal property or effects.

The only exceptions to this policy are:

1. Firearms in the possession of University Police Officers;
2. Firearms in the possession of on-duty law enforcement officers;

University sanctions will be imposed on offenders as appropriate and in addition, criminal charges may be filled.

For the purposes of this policy, "weapons" include;

1. Firearms such as handguns, shotguns, rifles, pellet guns, machine guns, stun guns, Tasers, or electronic weapons
2. Explosives such as bombs, grenades, blasting caps, fireworks/smoke bombs or other containers containing explosive substances
3. Other equipment, material devices that, in the manner that they are used or could be used or are readily capable of causing serious bodily injury.

The items described in clause c) include but are not limited to knives (except small personal pocket knives with folding blades that are less than (3) inches long), teargas, chemical substances, brass knuckles, clubs, or chains.