Monday, July 29, 2024
8:00 am - 9:00 am, via Zoom video conference
Attendance
College Council Members Present
In-person:
On zoom:
- Jim McMahon
- Richard Farfaglia
- Tara FitzGibbons
- Christine Patrick
- Carol Bradlinski-Watros
- Kristin A. Shanley-Graves
Absent:
- Darlene Baker
- Brian McGrath
- Aiden Wilson
Invited Guests Present
In-person:
On zoom:
- Jamal Coleman
- Kristi Eck
- Scott Furlong
- Vicki Furlong
- Mary Canale
- Peter Nwosu
- Kendra Cadogan
Absent:
- Kathleen Kerr
- Karen Crowe
- Cory Bezek
Additional Attendees
In-person:
On zoom:
- Christy Huynh
- Lisa Evaneski
- Brandon Bennett
Minutes
1. Welcome and Call to Order - James McMahon, College Council Chair
- Called to order time 8:02 am by James McMahon
- James introduced Carol Watros
- Brief remarks by Carol providing her background
2. Approval of Minutes of April 10, 2024 - James McMahon, College Council Chair
- Motion to approve minutes – Dick Farfaglia
- Tara Fitzgibbons - seconded
- Motion passed unanimously
3. Approve US Department of Education required changes to SUNY Oswego’s Student Code of Conduct – Lisa Evaneski, Title IX Coordinator, and Kendra Cadogan, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer
- President Nwosu – Jim and I had discussion about calling this meeting. There were changes made to Title IX that were made by the US Department of Education. Those changes have implications also for our student handbook. Part of the responsibility of the council is to approve changes that we make to the student handbook.
- Kendra Cadogan – The last couple of weeks have been spent feverishly updating our Title IX policy to be in compliance with Federal requirements. We partnered very closely with the office of the general counsel on that, and all the changes that we made were vetted and approved by the general counsel.
- Lisa Evaneski – We’re now at a point where we are making changes to the code of conduct.
- Brandon Bennett - I want to highlight that prior to the change in the Federal law and what we're proposing here. We did have 2 separate policies, one for Title IX grievance, and then one for sexual and interpersonal violence.
- Brandon Bennett - The change in law gave us a really great opportunity to consolidate 2 separate policies.
- Brandon Bennett – Previously there were 11 unique charges in the code of conduct that students could be charged with. Cutting that down to 6 instead of 11 is a lot clearer for students on either side of the process. And will make it a lot easier, I think, for students and their advisors to understand.
- Tara Fitzgibbons – You followed the model from the general counsel. And so was this really just incorporating updated models that Suny and SUNY Owego campus hadn't achieved yet? And we're just kind of freshening things up? Or was there anything that triggered specifically this?
- Brandon Bennett - General counsel developed for all the SUNY Campuses with the new regulations, a model policy. There were some things that were optional like we could choose an A or a B and so really, Lisa and I just kind of went through identifying what was going to work best for us and for our students. And then just kind of plug that in.
- Lisa Evaneski – Gave a breakdown of the new changes to the policy.
- Peter Nwosu - Keep in mind that there are a number of States that have sued the Federal Government on these. But in spite of those they've asked us to proceed because there's no court injunction saying that we should hold off. But we have implemented this fall semester.
- Tara Fitzgibbons – Does this require training
- Lisa Evaneski - Every employee has to be trained every year. There's always been training requirements for certain types of people like residence hall staff or University police, Brandon's team, my team but now there'll be required training for all employees every year. So, we're working out some of that right now.
- Peter Nwosu - We had discussions on this and cabinet as well. But yes, training is going to be mandatory.
- Tara Fitzgibbons – Thank you for the background.
- Kristin A. Shanley-Graves - Are there any cases that are kind of caught in the middle of this? Or is this only applying to things that may happen moving forward?
- Lisa Evaneski - It’s only for cases going forward.
- Motion to approve changes – Tara Fitzgibbons
- Kristin A. Shanley-Graves – Seconded
- Motion approved unanimously
4. Adjournment - James McMahon, College Council Chair
- Motion to adjourn – Dick Farfaglia
- Christine Patrick - Seconded
- 8:25 am Meeting Adjourned