CANVAS: DIsciplinary Action & Emergency Management

Hi. In this video, we're gonna talk about some of the subjects that I hear from you

are the most uh concerning stressful, right?

Which is student management, essentially student behavioral concerns

and how to deal with emergencies.

Um We're gonna touch on three different topics.

I will try to do so uh as briefly as possible.

And again, there's a lot of good material in the text as well of the module.

The first is what do we do about student behavioral concerns,

whether it's a student who's chronically late and holding up

the group or a student who is aggressive towards other students

or irresponsible in some way.

Uh We know the most common issue tends to be around responsibility with alcohol.

So that might be a topic that could be something that you would encounter.

What are your options?

Well, really,

unlike on campus where we have entire teams of people

who help work with student conduct as well as safety.

Um, when you're on a study away program, you're taking on a lot of those roles.

And so the processes are a lot less

uh

structured and a lot more uh intuitive in a way,

but what we would start you off with is saying

that you really have three primary things that you can do

if you want to

ask a student to change their behavior or have in some way,

have to manage student behavior.

The first of these is what I would call a warning

where you tell a student that their behavior is unacceptable,

that something they are doing is disruptive to the group to the program or,

or possibly dangerous for themselves.

So I'm gonna use a minor incident here as an example,

if there is a student that's chronically late and

has caused the group to uh miss a train

or uh you know, delays,

uh an excursion departing or if the student is uh constantly talking during

uh guided tours and being disrespectful to the guides in that way,

that's something where you might say, OK, I can,

I can talk to the student and we'll change that.

And so what the warning says is,

this is a behavior that's a problem for me as the leader of the program.

It's a problem for the program for other students.

It's really a problem for you as the student who's uh engaging in that behavior.

I do not want to remove you from the program.

I don't think that's necessary,

but I am going to have to tell you that if this behavior continues,

we cannot continue with, with you as a participant in the program.

So I'm going to give you this opportunity to change that behavior and

and understand why we think that behavior is a bit of a problem.

Um And we think that you'll be able to do

that and successfully complete the program and be a,

a good part of the program, right?

The warning is, is sort of your low level interaction with the student.

The second option is if you feel that a certain behavior

or pattern of behavior is truly problematic and and does put

that student at risk or others in the program at risk

is what I would call a probationary status or a prohibition,

right?

There are things that others in the group can do that.

We are now saying this student cannot. We're saying your behavior has been

problematic enough,

disruptive enough concerning enough that we feel that

we need to implement a change of behavior.

This is what we do so that we do not have to send

you homes that we do not have to remove you from the program.

This is essentially a probation removal would be the next step.

The most common things we see there are things like curfews for a

student who has real issues uh with being responsible with their free time

or a prohibition on alcohol consumption for a student who has demonstrated

that they have difficulty using alcohol responsibly.

Both of those essentially would be something where you would

want to write up what that probationary status is.

Have the students sign that they understand

that their ability to maintain, uh, uh,

their presence on the program depends on them, changing that behavior

and an understanding and you would obviously communicate with our

office that this is something that you're putting into place.

Finally, there is the issue of dismissal, right?

If a student's behavior has not changed,

they have not abided by the warnings or

probationary status that you've put in place.

Or if there is an incident that you feel very

concerned about it endangers the group uh standing the program,

the reputation of the college.

And, and that, and really you feel that the only option is to dismiss that student,

that is an option from day one,

you can dismiss a student for a single uh incident if it is significant.

Um We see this as required

as the response to possession or use of illegal drugs, uh acts of violence,

threats of violence, things of that nature,

but it could be something that develops over time as well if the student

continues to act in a way that's irresponsible or problematic for the program.

So the second section of what I'll talk about is what is a dismissal, what happens.

So a dismissal basically saying the student is

no longer welcome on the program program.

And that means they can no longer stay in the program housing.

They cannot join with the group, interact with the group,

participate in any group activities

in most cases, this means we'll ask the students,

how can we help you get home? Right.

You cannot come back to campus because you do not

have a class for the rest of the block.

You have to wait until the next block to return to campus, so you have to go home,

right? So

in some cases, the student will go immediately home.

In some cases, the student,

if they have resources will go somewhere else

and spend the time essentially on vacation,

which is

not really punitive,

except that there are other things that happen with a dismissal.

So with the dismissal, we're removing the student from the program,

this typically means that you should expect to give

that student a failing grade for that course.

Now, if it's a one course, one block program that's pretty straightforward,

they're unable to finish the course if it's a multiple block program.

And there are uh you know, courses that may be happening uh in some staggered way,

you'll have to make a decision um as far as which courses have been completed

and which courses are incomplete and we'll have

to have the grade reflect that right?

And we don't mean incomplete in the sense of

they have the opportunity to complete the work later.

We mean that they are stopping at that point and their grade should reflect that.

Um the second thing that happens with the dismissal is that no funds are refundable,

doesn't matter if there's non-refundable funds uh or, or a surplus in the budget,

we would not refund anything.

The full program fee is still charged to that student.

They do not get any funds back because they were removed for disciplinary reason.

Third, there are some phone calls that we have to make.

So you would have to contact my office and say this is what's happening.

We would be in communication then

um with

uh community standards, the Office of Community Standards.

Um and they would open up a conduct review or a conduct report on that student just as

if something had happened in one of the residents

halls or in one of your classes on campus

that conduct report can lead to

further conversations with the student once they're

back in the United States and can even lead to further sanctions.

You know, an act of violence by the student, for example,

might lead to a sanction that extends beyond their dismissal from your program.

So they're all very serious

uh things that can happen from student.

We may in most cases uh have to also speak with

the family to notify them that the student is returning early,

right? Maybe not in every case, but in in many cases, we would do that.

So dismissal is a very serious matter which is why we

do want to give you options like warnings like prohibition or

probationary standing to give you the option to help a student

see the issues and change their behavior before you dismiss them.

But if your belief is that the best thing for the program is to dismiss a student.

My response when you notify me is how can we help you?

What do you need from us to make this possible?

And that's the position we're going to take because it is your program and

you are responsible for making sure it works as well as it can.

And if you believe that's the best option, then we'll work with you on that.

Ok. Changing gears very slightly to the idea of emergency management.

And again, emergency can be, I I say it again a lot

emergency can be

uh an individual student has a crisis.

Um maybe a mental health crisis, a health crisis,

a uh you know, is the victim of a crime,

something happens to that individual or something is

happening that affects the entire group like mass labor

protests uh or strikes in a country um or

a sudden change in the political climate that,

that looks like it might potentially lead to some violence, right?

So regardless of the emergency and in the modules, you have lots of examples,

lots of different types of situations that could come

up with some specific protocols for each one,

we obviously can't cover all of them.

Um But what's true is there are three essential CS, right? I use the letter C there

that you will want to do regardless of what the emergency is right.

The first one is care, providing care to the people affected.

Now, that may mean uh putting the group in a safer situation.

It may mean uh helping an individual student get a medical attention.

It may mean uh speaking with a student, talking to them,

connecting to them to the 24 7 telehealth for counseling.

Um it depends on the type of emergency, right? But getting care where care is needed,

second would be communication, right?

Communication with my office and then possibly with other offices, for example,

with the campus advocate, if it is a title nine concern with the uh

uh community uh standards office, if it's a disciplinary concern,

right?

So communicating back to the campus,

communicating perhaps with international S OS,

which is what we recommend for a lot of cases.

Do you have early communication with them?

So we've got care for the individuals that are affected

uh communication with the college and with resources that can help you

and then finally, chronically, right, creating enough information,

keeping track of what was done, what has happened and what were your reactions and,

and your, your uh

uh ways of mitigating that problem that you enacted, keeping a a record of that

so that we can have an incident report that really lays out what happened when to whom

um and what were the responses? Right?

Because there is going to be in many cases with emergencies,

some need for that sort of information, whether it's title nine requirements,

um, Clary Act,

which is about theft and crimes on campus that extends to study abroad as well.

Um, or just the possibility that, um,

a family may be concerned about the way something was handled.

You want to have good records of what was done.

So, those three CS and they are not chronologically ordered. Right.

The first way to get care may be to contact International S OS.

The first thing to do may be to,

to chronicle some information so that you can then present it to

the authorities if you have to speak to the authorities locally,

but chronically information

uh communicating with our offices and with uh other resources and

caring for the issue, right?

Caring for the students um putting them in a safer place if it feels unsafe,

getting them care that they need,

those are really the three things that you have to remember, care,

communicate and chronicle and you'll be in a good position

um regardless of what type of emergency you might encounter.

So I hope you found this helpful.

Um I may or may not have another video in this set of modules.

I think this was the last one we had scheduled.

If if not,

I hope you found them very helpful all the way through any questions at any time.

Please do not hesitate to contact global education,

either myself or Heather um or Kelly can try to help you with

any concerns about anything that you might find in this canvas course,

um and again,

safe travels to you and we hope that you have

uh a truly outstanding experience taking students off campus.

Thanks.

CANVAS: DIsciplinary Action & Emergency Management

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