A new initiative is being introduced this fall which formalizes reporting and responding when the safety or well-being of individual students or the safety of the campus community is a concern. The mission of this new initiative is to provide a central place for faculty, staff, and students to communicate concerns and to provide information and education to the campus community about risk issues and resources.
The Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs and Campus Life will serve as the central repository for information regarding students of concern. The associate vice president will gather information and determine if and when to call together an intervention team to plan for an appropriate response. The membership of the intervention team includes representation from student affairs and campus life, residential life, the counseling center, public safety, and the appropriate dean's office. Other offices will be asked to participate when the situation dictates.
Staff members are encouraged to complete the reporting form on the Student Affairs and Campus Life (SACL) website (see below) and submit it to the Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life, or to call the office directly at 274-3374. Faculty will continue to report concerns to their respective dean's office. That dean's office will contact the Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life as appropriate. Students will continue to share concerns with a professional staff member, such as an academic adviser, residence director, or with the Office of Public Safety and, from there, formal referrals to Student Affairs and Campus Life will be made when appropriate.
Some of the goals of this new reporting and intervention structure are to identify students at risk because of behavioral problems, evaluate the need for early intervention with identified students, educate the campus community about behavioral issues and resources, and strengthen campuswide responsiveness to mental health and safety needs.
In the months ahead, an education and outreach team will offer programs to educate the community about signs of distress or disturbance in students, resources available to faculty, staff, and students with concerns and available to students with needs, how to approach and interact with students in distress, and/or at risk and how to consistently interpret and apply the student conduct code and FERPA.
In brief, the proposed model builds on what Ithaca College does well: care for individual students and attend to the sense of safety for the entire community. This new formalized structure, led by the Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life and incorporating a campus intervention team, provides a clear path for reporting concerns, coordinating efforts, and determining a timely response.
More details about this new structure and how to identify and report concerns can be found at the SACL website:
https://www.ithaca.edu/sacl
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20080904084116326