No Contact Orders and Orders of Protection

No Contact Orders and Orders of Protection
The Dean of Students Office may issue a No Contact Order when students have experienced sexual violence,
including harassment, stalking, dating violence or sexual assault by another student. Students can also request
off-campus intervention through a Civil No Contact or an Order of Protection, depending on the incident(s) and
the relationship between the students involved.
Campus No Contact Orders
The Dean of Students Office can issue a No Contact Order (NCO) as a preventative measure when in receipt of
reports alleging certain violation(s) of the Student Code of Conduct. An NCO can be issued even in cases where
a respondent has not been found formally responsible for violating University policy. A student requesting an
NCO does not have to file formal charges against the student named in the order. The NCO can be issued when
there is reason to believe that an order would be in the best interest of all parties and the community for
promoting peace and civility. Additionally, the NCO will usually state that the university has received a report
stating that the individual may have been involved in a situation where a violation of university policy occurred
and prohibiting the individual from contacting another student(s):
• In person (physical contact or visitation);
• Stalking;
• Cyber Stalking;
• Phone Calls;
• Email;
• Text Messaging;
• Facebook;
• Twitter;
• Any Third Party Communication.
*This list is not all comprehensive and is not limited
The NCO will state that any contact at any time will demonstrate a violation of the student code of conduct and
may also result in immediate removal from the institution. If you are the complainant of stalking, sexual
harassment, threats, or sexual violence, the order may be put in place automatically by the Dean of Students
Office upon the initiation of a complaint in our office, during the course of the investigation, and possibly after
the case is over. The duration of a NCO is determined by Dean of Students Office.
Campus No Contact Orders are not similar to court imposed restraining orders and do not guarantee that
designated parties will avoid sightings or passing interactions on the campus or local community The No
Contact Order provides campus-based accountability that may give a student peace of mind that intentional
contact will not be made, and incidental contact will be terminated once identified. Students who are concerned
about personal safety should contact IWU Security and/or the Bloomington Police at 911.
Civil No Contact Order
The Civil No Contact Order (CNCO ) is a civil "stay away" order for rape and sexual assault victims who do
not have a relationship with the offender. Under a CNCO, the court orders the offender not to have any contact
with the victim. You can obtain a CNCO against a perpetrator of an act of non-consensual sexual conduct or
non-consensual penetration. You do NOT need to have a relationship with the perpetrator. A CNCO prohibits
the perpetrator from knowingly coming within a specified distance from you. A CNCO prohibits the following:
• Physical contact such as staying away from your residence, work, and school.
• Nonphysical contact such as phone calls, texts, emails, notes, or communications through third parties.
You do not need a police report to get a CNCO. The process of getting a CNCO is completely independent of
the police. If you were assaulted by another student, IWU must enforce the CNCO and may be required to
move the perpetrator out of your class, place of residence or the university entirely. If you were assaulted by a
co-worker, your employer must enforce the CNCO and may be required to change the perpetrator’s schedule,
transfer, or terminate the perpetrator to keep you safe. There is no charge to the complainant for requesting a
CCNO.
For more information about obtaining a CNCO, consult ICASA, the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault
(hyperlink: http://www.icasa.org/index.aspx?PageID=%20572:)
For support in obtaining a CNCO, contact the Dean of Students Office or Stepping Stones (hyperlink to:
http://www.ywcamclean.org/site/c.bsIMI3NHKfK4F/b.8525683/k.AD76/Stepping_Stones.htm)
Orders of Protection
Under Illinois State law, domestic violence is a crime. Any person who hits, chokes, kicks, threatens, harasses,
or interferes with the personal liberty of another family or household member has broken the Illinois Domestic
Violence law. Under Illinois law family or household members are defined as:
• family members related by blood;
• people who are married or used to be married;
• people who share or used to share a home, apartment, or other common dwelling;
• people who have or allegedly have child in common or a blood relationship through a child in common;
• people who are dating or engaged or used to date, including same sex couples; and
• people with disabilities and their personal assistants.
An order of protection is a court order which restricts an abuser and only is available to family or household
members. An order of protection may (among other protections):
• prohibit abuser from continuing threats and abuse (abuse includes physical abuse, harassment,
intimidation, interference with personal liberty, or willful deprivation)
• bar abuser from shared residence or bar abuser while using drugs or alcohol;
• order abuser to stay away from you and other persons protected by the order and/or bar abuser from your
work, school, or other specific locations;
• require abuser to attend counseling;
• give you certain personal property and require abuser to turn it over, or bar abuser from damaging,
destroying or selling certain personal property;
• require abuser to pay you for losses suffered from the abuse, require abuser to pay for your shelter or
counseling services;
• require abuser to turn weapons over to local law enforcement, if there is danger of illegal use against
you;
• prohibit abuser from other actions; or
• to protect you, require abuser to take other actions.
For more information about obtaining Order of Protection, consult the Illinois Attorney General (hyperlink:
http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/women/victims.html)
To see a comparison of Civil No Contact Orders and Orders of Protection available in the State of Illinois,
consult this chart. (hperlink to: http://www.caepv.org/membercenter/files/welch,_jennifer__handout_il_orders.pdf.)

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