Home Universities & Overseas Partners: Optimizing Communication - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Home Universities & Overseas Partners: Optimizing Communication Involving On-Site Student Issues

NAFSA 2015 / Boston, MA

Julia Wheeler Ludden, DIS Stacey Woody Thebodo, Middlebury College BJ Titus, University of Minnesota Michelle Gere, Yale University

Who we are...

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
• f 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…

Data Analysis Caveat

DIS Partner Universities (U.S.)

180 U.S. colleges & universities (mostly private liberal arts)

• 86 responses

Middlebury & Yale Partners

Affiliate overseas programs/ providers/universities (incl direct-enroll)

• 20 responses

What we asked about on the survey: Medical treatment Mental health Behavioral issues Involvement in a crime Violating academic regulations Policies for different sending institutions When home school is notified Incidents happening to another student

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?

• ngoing risk / scope of incident
• natural disaster, terrorism or political uprising, public health outbreak
• disruption to program activities
• impact on student emotional health / well being
• student witnessed something distressing
• impact of event on other students (including death of a student or other

community member, e.g. professor, host father, on-site staff)

• “if I’m going to hear about it”
• parents
• media
• highers-up
• “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

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security and Campus Crime Statistics Act

• Enforced by the

Department of Education

• Could include loss

fines and loss of aid

Minnesota Law Overview

• ClearCause Foundation
• Two MN lawmakers to

draft legislation

• Required to disclose

the safety of college programs abroad

• Annual report

(different from Clery)

• First reporting due this

Fall

• Why we in MN need

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

Study Abroad Office Office of Career Strategy Fellowship Programs Yale Summer Session ➔ Yale/non-Yale programs ➔ International Internships ➔ Independent Projects ➔ Faculty-led Programs

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)

What must we know?

External Reporting

• Title IX
• Clery
• VAWA
• University Risk

Management

What should we know?

• Monitor Programs
• Prepare Students
• Proactively Communicate
• Internally Report

Before We Start Asking . . .

Challenges

• 1. Across university

experiences (little control)

• 2. Across CIPE experiences

(more control)

• 3. Type of program (direct,

3rd party, no program)

• 4. No “global” security officer

Solutions

• 1. Share our best practice

(plant the seed)

• 2. Set standard w/in CIPE
• 3. Continue to ask “to what

end?”

• 4. Need for clear process,

transparent, consistent

Tell me everything (except that!)

We might get more or less than we need or want. Revised our guidelines for:

• Levels of incidents
• Proactive vs. reactive

communication

• Reporting
• Who does what

How are we asking?

• 1. Consider what we’ve been

asking before

• 2. Explain why we’re asking

for this now

• 3. Be consistent across

different student experiences

• 4. Think about timing of our

request

• 5. Understand the challenges
• f our partners:
• Everyone requests

something different

• Different privacy laws
• Staffing & resources
• Implementation

What do we need to DO?

• Make expectations clear both directions: programs and sending schools
• Clarify expectations and protocols with stakeholders at your institution
• Recognize that expectations of reporting are different depending on

program and home school’s relationship with program

• Transparency with students
• Review written agreements, student handbooks,

pre-departure information, etc.

Best Practices

• Establish guidelines

○ Define categories of incidents ○ To whom do you report ○ Timing of reporting

• Define communication between program and home school

○ “Internal communication” – program has a right to communicate info about participants to their home schools ○ “School official with legitimate educational interests” – health & safety, academics, behavioral issues, etc. on a “need to know” basis

• If legally constrained about how much info to give home/sending school:

“An incident of a serious and sensitive nature has occurred on the program.”

• Rule of thumb on incident reporting:

“If in Doubt, Shout it Out” –Adam Rubin, CIEE

Where does that leave us?

“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.”

Reasonable Compliance?

If you set expectations with your partners about what they need to disclose…. ...you need to set expectations about what you will do if they don’t.

QUESTIONS?

THANK YOU!