2008 Woodie Awards
Policy to address troubled students
Alyssa Fleck
Issue date: 10/5/07 Section: News
Originally published: 10/4/07 at 4:52 PM EST
Last update: 10/4/07 at 10:40 PM EST
- Page 1 of 2 next >
A new Plattsburgh State policy could force some students to take a leave from the school if it is deemed that they pose a risk to the campus community.
The policy was created in order to have a set procedure if a student's behavioral or psychological condition shows potential to disrupt the safety of the campus, administrators said.
"There are folks here who sort of are below the radar in terms of finding themselves in a situation where they might need to take a medical or personal leave," said William Laundry, vice president for student affairs. "We decided we needed a system which would allow us to review a person in that category to see if maybe they should go home."
Although the policy is not a direct result of the incidents at Virginia Tech, all SUNY schools were contacted in May of 2007 by the Chancellor's Task Force on Critical Incident Management to see what is being done to assure the safety of the student body.
"The type of person that might sign themselves out on a mandatory leave would be somebody like Cho from Virginia Tech," University Police Chief Arlene Sabo said. "We knew we had to have a mechanism in place to help people go and get the help they needed if they're refusing to do it on their own and are a threat to themselves or others."
Laundry explained that the process of the Mandatory Leave Policy begins with a recommendation from a faculty or staff member to the Mandatory Leave Committee if a student shows behavior that may call for review.
"It's not people who rise to the level of criminally or judicially getting in trouble, it's not someone you could arrest or somebody that you could charge for discipline," Laundry said. "Believe it or not, the people I'm thinking of who would fall into this kind of a category are almost like the talk of the campus. It's like, 'oh gosh, yes, we've had this situation with X,' in the residence halls the students all know X, in the dining halls people all know X."
Once the student has been recommended to the committee, whether through faculty members or by a student who reports them to an RA or RD, the committee would review the situation, talk to the individual and the individual's parents or guardians, and try to come to a conclusion, whether it is some sort of counseling or a mandatory leave. After a student is recommended for a mandatory leave by the committee, they are referred to the dean of students.
The policy was created in order to have a set procedure if a student's behavioral or psychological condition shows potential to disrupt the safety of the campus, administrators said.
"There are folks here who sort of are below the radar in terms of finding themselves in a situation where they might need to take a medical or personal leave," said William Laundry, vice president for student affairs. "We decided we needed a system which would allow us to review a person in that category to see if maybe they should go home."
Although the policy is not a direct result of the incidents at Virginia Tech, all SUNY schools were contacted in May of 2007 by the Chancellor's Task Force on Critical Incident Management to see what is being done to assure the safety of the student body.
"The type of person that might sign themselves out on a mandatory leave would be somebody like Cho from Virginia Tech," University Police Chief Arlene Sabo said. "We knew we had to have a mechanism in place to help people go and get the help they needed if they're refusing to do it on their own and are a threat to themselves or others."
Laundry explained that the process of the Mandatory Leave Policy begins with a recommendation from a faculty or staff member to the Mandatory Leave Committee if a student shows behavior that may call for review.
"It's not people who rise to the level of criminally or judicially getting in trouble, it's not someone you could arrest or somebody that you could charge for discipline," Laundry said. "Believe it or not, the people I'm thinking of who would fall into this kind of a category are almost like the talk of the campus. It's like, 'oh gosh, yes, we've had this situation with X,' in the residence halls the students all know X, in the dining halls people all know X."
Once the student has been recommended to the committee, whether through faculty members or by a student who reports them to an RA or RD, the committee would review the situation, talk to the individual and the individual's parents or guardians, and try to come to a conclusion, whether it is some sort of counseling or a mandatory leave. After a student is recommended for a mandatory leave by the committee, they are referred to the dean of students.
Be the first to comment on this story