By MARTY LEVINE
The Pitt Concern Connection — which morphed in 2021 from a COVID alert line to one taking general complaints and questions — was used 1,150 times in 2023 to report everything from sexual misconduct, discrimination and harassment to an empty vending machine in the Cathedral of Learning, Laurel Gift told the latest Staff Council Spotlight event on Jan. 9.
Gift, assistant vice chancellor for compliance, investigations and ethics, noted that most of the concerns, which are turned into individual cases, unsurprisingly arose on the Pittsburgh campus (716) or off-campus in Oakland (112), although the regional campuses made use of the hotline/website as well, with 37 cases in Bradford, 20 in Johnstown and 14 in Greensburg. (The other 251 cases in 2023 stemmed from locations that did not fit in any of those categories, Gift said.)
Anything can be reported to the Pitt Concern Connection, but the most common concerns involve Pitt as a workplace, including allegations of harassment, discrimination and misconduct; bias incidents, including discrimination, retaliation, sexual misconduct and Title IX-related incidents; research compliance; environmental health and safety; financial management and use of University resources; privacy and data governance; or other legal and regulatory matters.
The top five concerns in 2023 involved sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior (285 cases), discrimination (245), harassment (199), campus safety (75) and employee relations (60). The top five Pitt offices responsible for resolving last year’s cases were the Title IX office (433), Compliance, Investigations and Ethics (142), the provost’s office (77), Pitt Police (76) and Employee & Labor Relations (44).
Gift noted that any student, staff, faculty or community member may report concerns at any time by texting 412-903-3456, calling 1-800-468-5768 or using the online form. Her office reviews the complaint and assigns it to the appropriate office for resolution.
The hotline is staffed by a third-party vendor, OneTrust, which can take your information with or without your name. Access to each case is also restricted within her office, Gift says, to specific individuals who handle certain types of cases. For each case, the person reporting an incident or asking a question can create a password that will allow them to check on the case status in the future.
“There’s never an error in using that resource — the Pitt Concern Connection,” Gift says, “and it is a great resource for making sure the concern is routed to the right people.”
Marty Levine is a staff writer for the University Times. Reach him at martyl@pitt.edu or 412-758-4859.
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