If a student has been missing for at least 24 hours, contact the Vanderbilt University Police Department (VUPD) or staff in Housing and Residential Experience immediately. All potential missing student reports will be referred to VUPD or local law enforcement for investigation.
In compliance with federal law, Vanderbilt University provides each student residing on campus the opportunity to designate a confidential contact to be notified by the University in the event the University, through its established procedures, determines that a student is missing. Vanderbilt makes the missing student notification procedure available to all students, including those in the graduate and professional schools.
The confidential contact will be registered confidentially and only authorized campus officials will have access to this information. This information will be disclosed to no external parties outside of law enforcement as part of a missing person investigation. In the case of non-emancipated students under the age of eighteen, the federal law requires that a custodial parent or guardian be notified; however, an additional, confidential contact may also be specified. Students may designate both emergency contacts and confidential contacts by logging into YES (Your Enrollment Services) at https://yes.vanderbilt.edu, and selecting the appropriate process. Students may list the same person for both the Missing Person and the Emergency Contact.
Once the Vanderbilt University Police Department has determined that a student is missing, the Vice Provost and Dean of Students or one of the Dean’s designees will notify the confidential contact within twenty-four (24) hours. Vanderbilt University will also notify an appropriate external law enforcement agency and relevent University officials, as necessary, about the missing student, within the same 24-hour period.