Fourth Annual Peace Conference
The fourth annual Buffalo State College Committee for the Study of Understanding Community and Peace Conference will be held on October 24, 2005, United Nations Day, in Rockwell Hall Auditorium. The theme for this year's conference is "Innovative Strategies for Understanding Community and Peace." This full-day conference begins with registration at 8:30 a.m. You are invited to schedule your class meetings at any of the program events. For more information regarding the conference program and other Peace Week activities, please visit www.buffalostate.edu/orgs/cucp.
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Honoraria Reporting
To comply with the New York State Ethics Commission regulations (Title 19 NYCRR Part 930 of the Public Officers Law), the college is required to annually report honoraria received by full-time faculty and professional and management/confidential employees. An honorarium is defined as "a payment, fee, or other compensation given to an individual for services rendered not related to the individual's official state duties." It also includes payment for travel expenses when the expenses incurred are unrelated to the employee's duties.
Examples of honoraria include compensation for delivering a speech, writing an article, or attending a meeting. An honorarium does not include salary, wages, or fees earned from outside employment. Faculty are not required to declare honoraria received within their academic discipline.
Although reporting honoraria is required, obtaining prior approval of requests to receive honoraria is optional rather than mandatory. However, the college encourages employees to seek prior approval from the president's designee (your respective vice president) before engaging in an activity that leads to the receipt of honoraria.
If you receive honoraria during the period April 1, 2005, through March 31, 2006, and do not request prior approval from your vice president, you will be required to report the source, date, and amount of honoraria received to your vice president by May 12, 2006.
Information regarding reporting of honoraria can be found at www.dos.state.ny.us/ethc/rules/Part930.htm. Questions should be directed to Susan Earshen, director of human resource management, at ext. 3042.
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College Telephone Use Policy
This policy describes the assignment, use, and management of desk and cellular telephones by employees of Buffalo State College.
Policy
Desk and cellular telephones are to be used for official business-related activities only. Personal use should be limited to emergency calls. Payment for reimbursement of personal desk or cellular telephone calls should be forwarded to the Accounting Office.
Cellular Telephones
Cellular telephones may be assigned only to employees whose duties and responsibilities require immediate or remote communications capabilities. The assignment of cellular telephones must be approved by the vice president for finance and management, who will review assignments annually to ensure compliance with this policy.
Each employee assigned a cellular telephone shall be primarily responsible for its security and maintenance, and must immediately report any theft, loss, damage, or vandalism of the unit.
New York State law prohibits the use of hand-held cellular phones while driving.
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University Policy on Fees, Charges, and Deposits
University policy prohibits the assessment of general science fees, laboratory fees, and fees for course materials, i.e., texts and/or supplies. These fees are prohibited, as university tuition guarantees students access to the facilities and supplies considered necessary for their courses. However, campuses may establish deposits in science courses requiring laboratory work as collateral against which replacement costs for damage may be assessed.
University policy also requires that students purchase supplies and materials necessary for credit-bearing courses at the campus store or other appropriate commercial outlet. When this is not feasible in terms of efficiency, cost containment, or method of distribution, a request may be submitted to establish a course-related fee if students will retain the end product of the laboratory coursework, e.g., sculpture/ceramics, photography.
Please review your department fee schedule for compliance with university fee policy. Fees not in accordance with the above directives should be discontinued.
Contact Comptroller Gary Phillips at ext. 4312 with questions concerning this policy.
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Winter Pause 2005–2006: Saving Energy for Tomorrow
Buffalo State College will limit campus operations from the close of business Monday, December 26, 2005, through the beginning of business on Tuesday, January 3, 2006. During this time, employees may elect to use leave accruals (annual leave or personal leave) for days off, and departments may remain closed (with the permission of their vice president). The two state holidays (December 25 and January 1) fall on Sundays this year and will be observed on Monday, December 26, 2005, and Monday, January 2, 2005. Employees are not required to charge leave accruals for December 26 and January 2.
Details regarding this year's Winter Pause will be published at a later date. The college administration thanks all campus employees, as well as others who may be inconvenienced by limited operations and services, for their cooperation in helping us to conserve energy and save resources.
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Young Alumnus Achievement Awards Reception
The Buffalo State Alumni Association cordially invites you to attend our
Young Alumnus Achievement Awards Reception at 7:00 p.m. Friday, October 21, in the Fireside Lounge of the Campbell Student Union. This prestigious award, recognizing the achievements of graduates of the last 20 years, will be presented to the following individuals for their professional advancement, dedication to the community, and commitment to the college and its mission:
Richard Baumert, '86
Vice President
Millennium Partners
Miami, Florida
Brett Coppins, '96, '02
Artist and Educator
Lewiston-Porter High School
Youngstown, New York
Joseph Golombek, Jr., '88, '94
Buffalo Common Council Member
North District
Buffalo, New York
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Aileen Hoffman, '88
Director, Family Services
FEGS (Federation Employment and Guidance Service)
Health and Human Services System
Syosset, New York
Nikolas Lemos, '93
Forensic Laboratory Director and Chief Forensic Toxicologist
Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
San Francisco, California
Darius Pridgen, '88
Senior Pastor
True Bethel Baptist Church
Buffalo, New York
Join emcee and 2004 Young Alumnus Achievement Award recipient Claudine Ewing, '92, news reporter, WGRZ-TV 2, and celebrate the outstanding achievements of our award recipients. The cost is $15 per person and includes a champagne toast, hors d'oeuvre and dessert reception, and special memento. For reservations, contact the Alumni Affairs Office at ext. 6001 or alumni@buffalostate.edu by October 14.
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Buffalo State College
Policy on Discrimination Based on Religion
The college does not discriminate against employees, applicants for employment or students, based on religion or national origin.
The following policy statement appears in the college catalog:
"No person shall be expelled from or refused admission as a student to an institution of higher learning for the reason that he or she is unable, because of his or her religious beliefs, to register for or to attend classes or to participate in any examination, study, or work requirements on a particular day or days."
Important: Students Unable Because of Religious Belief to Attend Classes on Certain Days
- No person shall be expelled from or be refused admission as a student to an institution of higher education for the reason that he or she is unable, because of his or her religious beliefs, to register for or attend classes or to participate in any examination, study, or work requirements on a particular day or days.
- Any student in an institution of higher education who is unable, because of his or her religious beliefs, to attend classes on a particular day or days, shall, because of such absence on the particular day or days, be excused from any examination or any study or work requirements.
- It shall be the responsibility of the faculty and of the administrative officials of each institution of higher education to make available to each student who is absent from school because of his or her religious beliefs an equivalent opportunity to register for classes or make up any examination, study, or work requirements that he or she may have missed because of such absence on any particular day or days. No fees of any kind shall be charged by the institution for making available to said student such equivalent opportunity.
- If registration, classes, examinations, study, or work requirements are held on Friday after 4:00 p.m. or on Saturday, similar or makeup classes, examinations, study, or work requirements shall be made available on other days, where it is possible and practical to do so. No special fees shall be charged to the student for these classes, examinations, study, or work requirements held on other days.
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In effectuating the provisions of the Education Law, it is expected that faculty and the administrative officials will exercise the fullest measure of good faith. No adverse or prejudicial effects shall result to any student for availing himself or herself of the provisions of this section.
Any student who is aggrieved by the alleged failure of any faculty member or administrative official to comply in good faith with the provisions of this section shall be entitled to maintain an action or proceeding in the supreme court of the county in which such institutions of higher education is located for the enforcement of his or her rights under this section.
The term "religious beliefs" shall mean beliefs associated with any corporation organized and operated exclusively for religious purposes, which is not disqualified for tax exemption under Section 501 of the United States Code.
At Buffalo State College, we sharpen the mandate of the state and endorse the policy that the administering of evaluative examinations on Rosh Hashanah (Sundown Monday, October 3– Sunset Wednesday, October 5, 2005) Yom Kippur (Sundown Wednesday, October 12–Sunset Thursday, October 13, 2005), and Good Friday (April 14, 2006) will not be permitted.
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Buffalo State College Policy on Consensual Sexual and Amorous Relations
Students should be free to develop relationships that supplement formal classroom instruction, and employees should be free to develop friendships and engage in social contact with supervisors and fellow employees. In most cases, social interaction among supervisors and employees, between fellow employees, and among faculty and staff members and students will benefit the entire academic community by promoting the interchange of ideas, building mutual trust and respect, facilitating communication, and reducing misunderstandings.
However, when a person in a position of power and authority abuses or appears to abuse that position, mutual trust and respect are lost and the academic environment suffers. Buffalo State College faculty, staff members, and supervisors exercise power and authority over Buffalo State College students and employees over whom they have current or potential evaluative, supervisory, instructional, or other professional responsibility. This inherent power imbalance makes consent within any sexual or amorous relationship between a supervisor and employee or between a faculty or staff member and student suspect, and may impede the real or perceived freedom of the student or employee to thereafter terminate or otherwise alter the relationship. The relationship may create real or apparent impropriety, loss of objectivity, and a conflict of interest in any evaluative, supervisory, instructional, or other professional role which the faculty or staff member may have, or may develop in relation to the student or employee, and may expose the individual faculty or staff member, as well as Buffalo State College, to possible legal charges and liability.
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Therefore, to avoid the breakdown of mutual trust and respect, this may result within the academic community from such sexual or amorous relationships,
It is the policy of Buffalo State College that:
- Commencement, upon either person's initiative, of a sexual or amorous relationship between a Buffalo State College faculty or staff member and a student with respect to whom such faculty or staff member has current professional responsibility shall be prohibited. Any Buffalo State College faculty or staff member who nevertheless engages in a sexual or amorous relationship shall be required to remove him or herself from any evaluation of the student and from any activity or decision which may or may appear to reward, penalize, or otherwise affect the student or student employee, and to otherwise take appropriate action to minimize any potential preferential or adverse consequences to the student, or to other members of the college community from any such sexual or amorous relationship. It shall also be the responsibility of the administrative head of the faculty or staff member's academic or administrative unit, if he or she is aware or made aware of the relationship, to assure that the foregoing steps are taken.
- In addition to being required to take the foregoing steps, any faculty or staff member who engages in a sexual or amorous relationship with a student or student employee shall be subject to but not limited to, counseling, reprimand, probation, suspension, and discharge, or other action consistent with applicable collective bargaining agreements, contracts, and procedures.
- A student shall not be subject to sanction for such a relationship. A student employee may be transferred from the position to a similar position, without demotion or other adverse effect on the benefits, terms, or conditions of employment and making alternative arrangements, if feasible, to prevent interference with educational opportunities, which gives the faculty or staff member current professional responsibility for the student.
- If such a relationship exists or existed before any current professional responsibility arose for the faculty or staff member in relation to the student, the faculty or staff member shall be prohibited from thereafter undertaking professional responsibility for the student with whom she/he has or has had a sexual or amorous relationship. In no case, however, shall such prohibition result in a demotion or otherwise adversely affect the benefits, terms, or conditions of employment. In the case of the student, reasonable alternative arrangements shall be made, if feasible, to prevent interference with educational opportunities.
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Sexual or amorous relationships between a faculty or staff member and a student to whom the faculty or staff member does not have a current professional responsibility are strongly discouraged.
Sexual or amorous relationships between a supervisor and a non-student employee to whom such supervisor has current or reasonable foreseeable professional responsibility are strongly discouraged. Where
such a relationship exists, previously existed, or develops, it shall be the responsibility of the supervisor and their supervisor, to remove the supervisor from any evaluation of the employee, and from any activity or decision which may or may appear to reward, penalize, or otherwise affect the employee, and to otherwise take appropriate action to minimize any potential preferential or adverse consequences to the employee or to other members of the college.
Sexual or amorous relationships between a faculty or staff member and a student to whom the faculty or staff member does not have a current professional responsibility are strongly discouraged.
Sexual or amorous relationships between a supervisor and a non-student employee to whom such supervisor has current or reasonable foreseeable professional responsibility are strongly discouraged. Where such a relationship exists, previously existed, or develops, it shall be the responsibility of the supervisor and their supervisor, to remove the supervisor from any evaluation of the employee, and from any activity or decision which may or may appear to reward, penalize, or otherwise affect the employee, and to otherwise take appropriate action to minimize any potential preferential or adverse consequences to the employee or to other members of the college community from any sexual or amorous relationship. An employee shall not be subject to sanction for such a relationship, but may be removed or transferred from a position (without demotion or adverse effect on the employee's benefits, terms or conditions of employment) which gives the supervisor the power to evaluate, reward, penalize, or otherwise affect the employee.
If a student or employee makes a complaint of sexual harassment against a faculty or staff member or supervisor which arises from a sexual or amorous relationship between the faculty or staff member and the student or employee, the faculty or staff member or supervisor charged with sexual harassment shall have the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the relationship was entirely consensual and uninfluenced by the faculty or staff member's or supervisor's professional relationship with the complainant. If a sexual harassment complaint, is made by a third person with respect to the sexual or amorous relationship of a faculty member or supervisor to a student or employee who is not the complainant, consent to the relationship between the faculty member or supervisor and the student or employee shall not constitute a defense to the third person's complaint, insofar as the allegations concerning the relationship between the faculty member or supervisor and student or employee support the complaint of the third person.
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Grievance Procedure
- This policy with respect to sexual and amorous relations should be enforced consistently but with a high degree of flexibility and discretion, with minimal intrusion upon the personal privacy of the participants and with initial reliance upon confidential counseling with an appropriate professional.
Any decision to impose sanctions should be made in light of the policy considerations set forth in Section A above, as they apply to the particular circumstances being considered.
Any person may make an inquiry or request for consultation to the Equity and Campus Diversity Office concerning an alleged violation of this Policy, and any person may file a complaint alleging a violation of this Policy with the Equity and Campus Diversity Office, pursuant to the Buffalo State College Grievance Procedure for Review of Allegations of Discrimination.
Approved July 29, 1997
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