President’s Report to Academic and Professional Faculty

Vice President Reports.  You received a report last week from Shelly Wright, Vice President for Communication and Chief of Staff, about recent achievements and work in progress in the Office of Communication and Marketing. L. David Eaton, Vice President for Enrollment Management, will report next week on enrollment trends, new student recruitment (including Fall Open House on October 28), Excelsior Scholarships, and other work underway in his division. This is the start of an effort to enhance community understanding of the work of each division by having Vice Presidents report directly to you on a periodic basis. These reports will supplement my monthly reports, and will allow me to focus on other topics (and/or shorten my reports!).

Federal Updates. We are following federal higher education actions (in one instance inaction) and advocating as appropriate for favorable outcomes for our students and our institutions. In his report next week, Vice President Eaton will discuss implications of the failure of Congress to extend the Perkins Loan program, a significant source of financial support for our lowest-income students.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s statements last month signaled the current administration’s interest in curtailing standards and expectations for managing and responding to campus sexual assault spelled out in the 2011 “Dear Colleague Letter.” State laws like New York State Education Law 129-B (the 2015 “Enough is Enough” legislation) and the federal VAWA (the 1994 Violence Against Women Act) provide some protection against efforts to significantly relax federal standards. About half of New York’s 129-B law is devoted to due process and equity of process, the basis for much of the criticism Secretary DeVos has voiced. Our best guidance to date from SUNY legal counsel is that no immediate change is expected, even as we continue to monitor developments. This past summer’s audit showed our campus in full compliance with expectations of “Enough is Enough” legislation, reflecting our continuing commitment to uphold the highest standards of policy and practice. Congratulations to the Student Affairs and HR, Diversity and Inclusion staff who worked hard to achieve this outcome. There will be no change in our commitment to the campus’s Consensual Relations Policy approved last spring. That local policy bars romantic or sexual relations between employees and students when a power differential exists.

We are all aware of the Trump Administration’s announcement on September 5 that it would end the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in six months. I know that many faculty and staff have been supporting students who will be affected by these changes. SUNY has updated the Frequently Asked Questions on Immigration Policy and Law Relating to Students to include the DACA update information (https://www.suny.edu/immigration/faq/). Higher education groups like the American Association of State Colleges and Universities have been working to address the plight of “Dreamers” through congressional action. I have signed on to a letter developed by the American Council on Education being sent this week to Republican and Democratic leadership in the House and Senate. This letter, carrying signatures of more than 400 institutional leaders, reminds them of survey results showing that 62% of Americans say it is extremely important for Congress to pass legislation to address this issue. The letter also cites survey results that 69% of adults support allowing these individuals to stay in the United States if they arrived as a child, completed high school or served in the military and have not committed a serious crime. We will continue our efforts to influence the outcome of these federal actions.

Campus Safety, Emergency Management, and Free Speech. In my 2017 State of the College address, I noted the violent events at Charlottesville, Virginia, this past summer and the tensions and possible conflicts between free speech and safety, and free speech and inclusivity, highlighted by those events. I also noted that our Emergency Management Team and the Cabinet were assessing our preparedness for incidents like those at the University of Virginia and other campuses. That work has included reviewing Virginia’s post-incident assessment and the recommendations for improving preparedness and responsiveness, including ensuring full understanding of existing policies (like one barring open flames on campus). At the same time, university leaders nationwide have expressed a need to recognize we are living and working in a radically changed environment. We have gathered our applicable policies, and are considering the best way to make these policies better known to members of the community, especially those planning events that may draw large attendance and generate controversy. One general theme emerging from our assessments is the critical need for campus leaders (including University Police) to have key information about planned events, so that we can adequately prepare for safety and security and to ensure that potentially controversial speakers are not disrupted in ways that compromise campus safety. Our decentralized room reservation system (which we are addressing for large events) and the hesitation by some to provide information about events so that we can plan for large crowd sizes, safety and security are perhaps our biggest challenges to overcome. To be clear, our goal is not to limit the expression of free speech, but to be certain that we have access to full information about planned events that increases our ability to protect you, our students, and others at events that you organize or host. I am also committed to protecting the exercise of free speech by students and faculty that may generate objection or protest from other members of our community or from outside groups.

I look forward to seeing you at this week’s meeting, where I will be happy to respond to your questions. Be sure to join us to recognize Dr. Susan Lewis of the History Department as we present her with her Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.