Campus Safety Advisory Committee

Annual Report – Academic Year 2018-2019

Meeting Dates: 12/4/2018, 1/29/2019, 4/10/2019

Committee Members:

• Chief Daniel Daugherty
• Coryn Voels
• Erika Murray
• Dr. Jill Bandura
• Dr. Jeff Hung
• Dr. Eddie Davis
• Dr. Jeanne Radigan
• Louis Scala
• Don Mahilli - student
• Daniella Ford - student
• Hannah Ventaloro - student
• Casey Brady - student

Guest Presenters: Jeff Borah from IT, Dr. Andrew Berger from Campus Mental Health Services and Chris Weppler - Blackboard administrator.

Introduction

In the first meeting of the year, the Campus Safety Advisory Committee (CSAC) discussed a multitude of topics relevant to the safety and security of all Farmingdale State College community members. It was determined that a selection of three of the most relevant issues should be tackled by the committee this year. Issues selected were: Campus Mental Health services and their ability to reach a broad array of students, Internet scams and email hoaxes, and privacy concerns on Blackboard.

Campus Mental Health Services Outreach

During the first meeting of the CSAC, the make-up of Campus Mental Health Services (CMHS) and its spectrum of outreach was brought up. The question to examine was, “Is CMHS equipped to handle the broad array of students at FSC and their issues?” Are the needs of the LGBT community, students of color, transgender students being met? Suggestions were made that LGBT mental illness counselors from off campus could be brought onto campus to specifically help members of the LBGT community. Chief Daugherty described the numerous efforts that CMHS undertake to provide assistance to every member of the campus community, but also suggested we bring in Dr. Berger the director of CMHS, who, along with advisory committee member Dr. Jill Bandura, could more efficiently describe the department’s make-up and outreach efforts.

Dr. Berger and Dr. Bandura gave a presentation at the second meeting of the CSAC. Dr. Berger explained to the Committee how campus mental health services advertises throughout the campus community. This is accomplished through pamphlets, cards, folders, etc. He also stressed that services are available day and night. 24 hours a day CMHS can be reached through University Police in addition to their regular office hours. In response to addressing the needs of the LBGT community and other members of the student body with special needs, the suggestion was made for the department of CMHS

to hold future meetings directly with student organizations and clubs to address specific student concerns including: the availability of campus mental health professionals , the knowledge and experience of campus mental health employees to help members of the LGBT community and the expertise of campus mental health employees to help with members of the athletic department who have experienced traumatic injuries.

By the third meeting of the Campus Safety Advisory Committee, these meetings had already begun. Dr. Jill Bandura discussed some of the results from these meetings:

• Campus Mental Health Services are updating their brochure to include “Respect individual identity in all ways and kinds.”
• Pride pamphlets will be generated and distributed throughout campus. They will include a map of the new gender neutral bathrooms that can be found throughout buildings on campus. They are “All Inclusive”, and to be used by all.
• Campus Mental Health Services will continue to work with and communicate with student governments and organizations to address any future potential issues.

A commitment was made by all parties involved to continue to meet and foster this important line of communication. By continually meeting with the student clubs which represent the diverse student population at Farmingdale State College, CMHS can hear directly from those it strives to serve, and respond with the care and professionalism that FSC has grown accustom to seeing from them.

Internet and email scams

During its first meeting, the committee also discussed a growing trend of malicious spam emails that are being sent to members of the FSC community. Jeff Borah, the director of Information Technology was brought in to the committee’s second and third meeting to discuss this ongoing threat and to describe the monumental efforts being conducted to combat this. Highlights from his presentations include:

• The IT department utilizes a sophisticated set of defense systems and has been blocking more spam that has been trying to attack the campus server.
• Discussions were held regarding scam/spam emails and what the department of information technology does to monitor and prevent all harmful emails. Graphs were used for visual representation of how many phishing emails have been blocked from the Farmingdale campus community. IT is actively monitoring and taking steps to deter viruses.
• A new information security awareness training program has been developed for the campus community. It consists of 15 mandatory videos which totals about 46 minutes of viewing time. At this time, it is mandated for all employees to take. Mr. Borah will reach out to other schools to find out how/if students take any security training.
• Suggestions were made in making the “Freshman Experience” mandatory and including a “campus security training”.

Going forward the committee feels that a program should be developed that provides online safety training for students. It will be researched as to whether or not that training should be mandatory. Furthermore, the advertising and notification of the importance of sending suspicious emails to the HELPDESK should also be done.

Blackboard Privacy

During the first meeting of the Campus Safety Advisory Committee, concerns were raised about the Blackboard program and whether there were any privacy violations occurring with photos of students. Chris Weppler, the Blackboard administrator, attended the second meeting of the committee to address these concerns. Mr. Weppler gave a brief introduction of the Blackboard program and addressed privacy concerns with information that is being shared with users and user photos on Blackboard. Conclusions were that there are no privacy issues. No student emails, address’ or phone numbers are accessible. Photo rosters of all students are available and necessary for the instructors. ID cards are mandatory and suggestions were made of implementing new policies to force students to obtain ID cards in which the photos will also to be used on Blackboard.

Conclusion

The Campus Safety Advisory Committee was made up of a broad array of campus community members. The committee’s discussions were extremely constructive and the results detailed in this report, and their follow-up, will go a long way to enhancing the safety and security of all at Farmingdale State College.