Title IX Sexual Assault Tracker API documentation

Getting started

The Chronicle of Higher Education provides an API to access the data it has gathered and organized about sexual assault investigations. The data accessible in this API is organized at two levels; by investigations, or cases, and by colleges. All data is returned as an array of JSON objects.



Cases URL

The cases endpoint returns information regarding cases that exist in the system. You can get the full list by hitting the endpoint below.

http://projects.chronicle.com/titleix/api/v1/cases/

Example response object:

{
    "opened": "2014-12-22",
    "state_name": "California",
    "status": "resolved",
    "college_unitid": 122436,
    "state_fips": 6,
    "state_abbrev": "CA",
    "sector": "private",
    "college": "University of San Diego",
    "case_id": 139,
    "closed": "2015-03-23"
}
                

Filtering

You can also pass parameters to narrow the results. The following would return all cases that are still active.

http://projects.chronicle.com/titleix/api/v1/cases/?status=active

You can pass as many valid parameters as you'd like to narrow down the results. The following would return all active cases at private colleges in New York.
NOTE: The only exception to this rule is the case_id parameter. If you send that down with other filters, they will be ignored, as you'd only expect to get one response.

http://projects.chronicle.com/titleix/api/v1/cases/?sector=private&status=active&state_abbrev=NY

Case parameters

The following parameters can be passed to the cases URL to narrow the results from the API.

parameter: status

options: active, resolved

definition: The status of the investigation.

parameter: sector

options: private, public

definition: The sector of the institution where the investigation is taking place.

parameter: state_fips

options: A FIPS code for a state, e.g. 36 for New York, or 15 for Hawaii

definition: The state of the institution where the investigation is taking place.

parameter: state_abbrev

options: Two letter abbreviation for a state, NY, PA, LA

definition: The state of the institution where the investigation is taking place.

parameter: start_date

options: A date, formatted in the following way MM-DD-YYYY. e.g. 01-01-2008

definition: Cases opened on or after this parameter. In this example, you would receive all cases opened on or after January 1, 2008.

NOTE: This parameter can be used in concert with end_date to create a snapshot of cases opened within a certain time period. For example the parameter: start_date=01-01-2010&end_date=01-01-2011 would return all cases opened between January 1, 2010 and January 1, 2011.

parameter: end_date

options: A date, formatted in the following way: MM-DD-YYYY. e.g. 12-01-2014

definition: Cases opened on or before this parameter. In this example, you would receive all cases opened on or before December 1, 2014.

NOTE: This parameter can be used in concert with start_date. See note in the start_date parameter above.

parameter: case_id

options: A number given to a case by The Chronicle, e.g. 55

definition: The id of the case.

NOTE: This parameter will ignore all other filters, as you will always only get one investigation. This is useful for when you query a college and receive an array of college_id s. See documentation for colleges below.


Colleges URL

The colleges endpoint returns information about colleges where sexual assault investigations are taking place.

http://projects.chronicle.com/titleix/api/v1/colleges/

Example response object:

This construct is very similar to the cases object. The difference is that each college will contain an array (cases) of case_ids that have been opened at that institution.


{
    "state_abbrev": "PA",
    "cases": [
        2,
        167
    ],
    "college_unitid": 210669,
    "college_name": "Allegheny College",
    "state_fips": 42,
    "case_count": 2,
    "sector": "private"
}
                

Filtering

Like cases, colleges can be filtered through the use of URL parameters. The following would return all public colleges.

http://projects.chronicle.com/titleix/api/v1/colleges/?sector=public

Again, you can pass as many valid parameters as you'd like to narrow down the results. The following would return all public colleges in California.
NOTE: Like cases, the only exception to this rule is the college_unitid parameter. If you send that down with other filters, they will be ignored, as you'd only expect to get one response.

http://projects.chronicle.com/titleix/api/v1/colleges/?sector=public&state_abbrev=CA

College parameters

The following parameters can be passed to the colleges URL to narrow the results from the API.

parameter: sector

options: private, public

definition: The sector of the intitution.

parameter: state_fips

options: A FIPS code for a state, e.g. 36 for New York, or 15 for Hawaii

definition: The state of the institution.

parameter: state_abbrev

options: Two letter abbreviation for a state, NY, PA, LA

definition: The state of the institution.

parameter: case_count

options: You can pass a number to this parameter, e.g. 2, or one of the following valid prefixes plus a number, e.g. gte2.

  • gt (greater than)
  • gte (greater than or equal to)
  • lt (less than)
  • lte (less than or equal to)

definition: The number of investigations (regardless of status) at an institution.

parameter: college_unitid

options: Numeric representation of a college, e.g. 243744

definition: The number given to an institution by IPEDS.

NOTE: This parameter will ignore all other filters, as you will always only get one college.