President's Report Masthead
June 30, 2012

Task force updates

Vice President Brian Rose charged three task forces to work on issues that are critical to helping students be successful in their time at Binghamton: orientation, sexual assault and alcohol. Reports for orientation and sexual assault follow. The work by the task force on alcohol issues is continuing.

Orientation Vision Team

This team of professional staff and faculty from across the University took an in-depth look at Orientation, including planning for summer 2012 and into the future. The team looked at competitor institutions; established a set of learning objectives to assess the pre-Orientation process, on-site program and post Orientation; and set up a list of process-issue tasks including improving the ways to register, addressing state mandates, the ID card process and academic advising. With the assistance of Financial Aid and Student Records, two ID machines will be available in the check-in location for Orientation 2012. In addition, several sessions have been added to the Orientation schedule for both families and students, including sessions to address the needs of transfer students.

The team also brainstormed ideas on how to improve the online registration process, in terms of content and formatting, to make it easier for students/families. One result of the brainstorming: in collaboration with academic departments and advisors, Academic Planning Guides were developed to provide incoming students a look at requirements for majors they want to explore and to serve as an additional resource prior to their arrival at Orientation. The guides are available on the New Student Programs website.

Sexual Assault Task Force (SATF)

The Sexual Assault Task Force was charged with examining University policies, procedures and practices as they relate to sexual assault, with the objective to strengthen the University’s efforts to address sexual assault where students are victims.

The task force, consisting of representatives from across campus units and divisions, examined best practice models; reviewed University policies, procedures and practices; and solicited input from campus constituencies about University practices in four areas: policy, education and prevention, response, and input from campus constituents/assessment.   

The final SATF report, submitted to Vice President Rose in mid-June, highlights the strengths of current efforts as well as makes recommendations for moving forward to create a best-practice model for educating students and the campus. Recommendations include development of a University-wide policy that includes response protocol, programming for students to reinforce messages and comprehensive education programs. In addition, recommendations were made to conduct annual reviews and training for staff, integrate education and prevention into curricular and non-curricular activities, focus prevention efforts on high-risk populations, coordinate educational efforts with those of the University’s Alcohol and Other Drugs Program, and regularly assess the effectiveness of the University’s initiatives concerning sexual assault.