Who reports what if there's a sexual harassment allegation at Purdue

If a person tells a Purdue University employee that he or she has been sexually assaulted, in most cases that employee is required to report the incident to Purdue's police department. But that doesn't mean the police will investigate it. 

But a woman, who is a student at Purdue, filed a lawsuit Dec. 5 saying Purdue mishandled a sexual assault that she reported, according to court documents. 

According to the documents, the woman told a residence hall employee as well as a university employee who now works with CARE that she was raped.

CARE — the Center for Advocacy, Response & Education —is the main resource for rape survivors, but it had not been established when the woman reported her sexual assault. It opened in August 2016. 

It's unclear if the university employee was a confidential advocate at the time the woman reported her assault.

Purdue spokesman Brian Zink said that before June 2016, most higher education officials considered confidential victim advocates to be someone other than a Campus Security Authorities (CSAs). CSAs are campus police or any university official with "significant responsibility for student campus activities," according to Purdue's website.