Home Universities & Overseas Partners: Optimizing Communication Involving On-Site Student Issues NAFSA 2015 / Boston, MA
Who we are... Julia Wheeler Ludden, DIS Stacey Woody Thebodo, Middlebury College BJ Titus, University of Minnesota Michelle Gere, Yale University
Learning Objectives: You will... ...recognize that universities have different expectations, programs have different philosophies, and we must work together with stakeholders to articulate expectations. ...explore the differences in expectations around student confidentiality in different countries and cultures, including institutional cultures. ...free yourself from Clery & Title IX, just for a little while, to think beyond the regulations about what makes sense within your institutional culture.
Terminology “incident” = something happened to a student, typically related to health/safety “reporting” = on-site staff/faculty sharing information with home university administrators, typically the study abroad office
Outline ❏ Lightning Round ❏ Home University Perspectives ❏ Overseas Partner Perspectives ❏ Legislative Motivations & Implications ❏ Case Study: Yale University ❏ Questions
Lightning Round! Red = Do Not Disclose I would not expect to be notified / I would not notify Green = Disclose I would expect to be notified / I would notify
Lightning Round (1 of 10) Student goes home mid-semester for a funeral, returns to program after missing one day of classes
Lightning Round (2 of 10) Student tells program staff he is gay, has never told anyone before, asks for advice on telling the other students
Lightning Round (3 of 10) Student falls, cuts hand, goes to ER for stitches, not admitted, no further medical treatment needed
Lightning Round (4 of 10) Student moves dorm rooms due to roommate’s excessive snoring
Lightning Round (5 of 10) Rowdy partier vomits on his apartment roof, neighbors complain of loud music at all hours. Program places student on disciplinary probation.
Lightning Round (6 of 10) Student approaches on-site staff to seek professional counseling
Lightning Round (7 of 10) Student changes preferred gender pronoun (identifies as different gender than before going abroad)
Lightning Round (8 of 10) Student tells staff he/she was sexually assaulted and asks the program not to tell anyone
Lightning Round (9 of 10) Program staff learn that student has been living with a terminal illness. Student has not informed & does not wish to inform the home university.
Lightning Round (10 of 10) Resident Director learns that a student with a disclosed mental health condition has stopped taking his/her medication
Home/Sending School Perspective (Sending students abroad on programs not administered by your own institution) What do we expect from program providers and host institutions abroad in reporting incidents to us? What do we want them to tell us? When do we need to know? Why do we want to know??
WHY do we want to know about incidents in which our students are involved? ● Legal issues/reporting ● Parents/higher-ups/media (will the issue go up the chain of command) ● Implications for future students ○ Advising future students on program choice ○ Pre-departure preparation ○ Potential safety concerns of location ● Relationship with program/university/partner abroad ○ Confidence in program’s ability to handle health and safety issues ○ Do we want to continue to approve program? ● Perhaps most important: duty of care/best interest of student/ethical responsibility
Disclose or Not Disclose? It depends… (or does it?) Do reporting expectations differ based on the following factors? Do students remain enrolled in home school while abroad? Do you record study abroad credit/grades on home school transcript? Included in home school GPA? Do your students pay “ home fees ”? Do you have written agreements with programs? Do you have different expectations based on program type (e.g. direct enrollment v US-based program providers)? Different expectations based on geography ? Do the answers to all these questions differ if the provider is a US college/university (subject to US laws – FERPA, Clery, Title IX, etc.)
Survey: Do you expect to be notified if… What we asked about on the survey: Data Analysis Caveat Medical treatment DIS Partner Universities (U.S.) Mental health Behavioral issues 180 U.S. colleges & universities (mostly Involvement in a crime private liberal arts) Violating academic regulations ● 86 responses Policies for different sending institutions Middlebury & Yale Partners When home school is notified Incidents happening to another student Affiliate overseas programs/ providers/universities (incl direct-enroll) ● 20 responses
Do you expect to be notified if on-site staff learn that your student has sought medical treatment? (choose one)
...of any mental health information regarding your student? (check all that apply)
...if student behavior resulted in disciplinary action? (check all that apply)
...if your student was [alleged to have been] involved in a crime? (check all that apply)
...if your student is in violation of the program’s academic regulations? (check all that apply)
Do your expectations differ from one institution to another? (check all that apply) NB! Overseas partners were not asked about geography or type.
How are / should students be notified of program guidelines regarding contacting home schools? (check all that apply)
When do you notify / expect to be notified of incidents NOT directly involving your students? ● ongoing risk / scope of incident natural disaster, terrorism or political uprising, public health outbreak o disruption to program activities o ● impact on student emotional health / well being student witnessed something distressing o impact of event on other students (including death of a student or other o community member, e.g. professor, host father, on-site staff) ● “if I’m going to hear about it” parents o media o highers-up o ● “if I need to report it”
Additional Issues & Comments ● Issues at home (e.g. parent death, family finances) ● Pregnancy ● Student withdrawal ● Visa violations / refused entry ● “it is best that I know before the parent calls” ● “depends on how the students are reacting to the given situation. If they are high strung and constantly in touch with mom and dad, give me a heads up.” ● “students must adhere to our university policies as well as those of the host country.” ● “ I would rather get 50 emails saying ‘Your student has a cold’ than not get an email saying my student was in the hospital (which has happened multiple times!).” ● “The [issue] is chiefly ‘when’ we report . High impact issues involved immediate reporting and low impact issues are to be reported w/in 72 hours per our protocols.”
So….now what? At DIS? ● We’re doing pretty well healthy students, happy partners, web + contract language ● Should we draft guidelines, or wait for partners to do so? ● Challenges of agreeing to treat individual institutions differently ● More partners asking our policies, telling us increased scrutiny is coming… In the field? “The climate of study abroad and global safety has changed, and parent involvement has also changed. I feel far more compelled to be informed, and rely on providers abroad to be a partner in this effort.” “I would like to see an industry standard disclosure practices document which states program practice next to university expectation.”
Legislature--NOT Clery and Title IX, rather the Minnesota Law
Clery Act ● Enforced by the The Jeanne Clery Department of Disclosure of Campus Education Security and Campus Crime Statistics Act ● Could include loss fines and loss of aid
Minnesota Law Overview • ClearCause Foundation • Annual report • Two MN lawmakers to (different from Clery) draft legislation • First reporting due this • Required to disclose Fall the safety of college • Why we in MN need programs abroad disclosure
Minnesota LAW • To be reported, the incident must: -be on credit bearing programs -be during the program dates -be a result of program participation • Deaths and hospitalization
Incident Tracking Database • There is no one way to collect data • Secure • Models -Homegrown database -Excel/Access -Forum Database
Case Study: CIPE @ Yale ➔ Yale/non-Yale programs Study Abroad Office ➔ International Internships Office of Career Strategy ➔ Independent Projects Fellowship Programs ➔ Faculty-led Programs Yale Summer Session
CIPE Mission = Northstar ● Influences our policy building ● Focuses on student agency & initiative ● Lends itself to siding with student privacy
Institutional Culture How involved are we in our students’ experiences abroad? ● Same as when on campus (research) ● Less than when on campus (study abroad) ● More than when on campus (Light Fellowship - blogs) Depended on: ● Type of experience (internship, research, study abroad) ● Type of student (undergraduate, graduate) ● Type of program (structured, unstructured)
Recommend
More recommend
