The University of Houston is committed to creating and maintaining an institutional environment that promotes the safety and well-being of its students. To this end, the university has established a policy and procedure designed to identify and assist enrolled UH students who reside in on-campus housing and who have been reported missing for more than 24 hours. This policy is enacted in compliance with the requirements outlined in the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008.

1. All on-campus residents will be informed that they have the option to identify an individual that the institution can contact no later than 24 hours after the time that the student is determined to be missing.

2. The UH Department of Student Housing & Residential Life will provide each on-campus resident a method of registering confidential contact information for the individual that they identify as the person to be contacted in the event that they are determined to be missing for more than 24 hours.

3. The UH Department of Student Housing & Residential Life will inform each on-campus resident under the age of 18 (who is not emancipated) that they must register contact information for a custodial parent or guardian to be contacted in the event that they are determined to be missing for more than a 24-hour period.

4. Any person who suspects that an on-campus resident has been missing for more than 24 hours should immediately contact the UH Department of Public Safety, the Office of the Executive Director of Student Housing & Residential Life, or the Dean of Students Office. Any information regarding a suspected missing student provided to the Office of the Executive Director of Student Housing & Residential Life or the Dean of Students Office will be immediately reported to the UH Department of Public Safety.

5. If an investigation conducted by the UH Department of Public Safety concludes that the subject of a missing person report has been missing for more than 24 hours and has not returned to campus, the UH Department of Public Safety will initiate communication with the emergency contact that the on-campus resident has designated. Student Housing & Residential Life will be responsible for providing access to the emergency contact information to the UH Department of Public Safety on a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week basis through its on-duty or on-call staff.

6. If the on-campus resident who is the subject of a missing person report has not designated an emergency contact, the UH Department of Public Safety will conduct an investigation using guidelines established by the Texas Department of Public Safety Bureau of Information Analysis Missing Person Clearing House Unidentified Persons/DNA Unit.