Safety Enforcement Protocol

Approved by President Junn: August 12, 2021

Introduction

Maintaining the health and safety of all California State University, Stanislaus (Stanislaus State) community members is of utmost priority. As such, the enforcement of safety procedures for non-compliant individuals is a shared responsibility. The Stanislaus State Isolation & Return Protocol, Exposure Mitigation Protocol, and Face Coverings Protocol are recognized measures to protect against the virus and to maintain a healthy teaching, learning and working environment for all Stanislaus State students, faculty, and staff.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide faculty and staff guidance on managing COVID-19 safety compliance on campus. This document focuses on providing education for establishing and maintaining safe environments through classroom and activity management and for coordinating best safety practices.

Faculty and Staff Guidance

The best practices in maintaining safe classroom and campus spaces are encouraging the campus community to follow the current COVID-19 safety protocols. Ultimately it is not the role of the faculty or staff to enforce safety protocols. However, faculty and staff are encouraged to manage these situations with tact and de-escalation practices. Steps a faculty or staff member may take if a person is non-compliant include the following:

• Addressing the situation through an educational and developmental approach. Every effort should be made to resolve the issue.
• If the behavior continues, ask the student to leave the space and refer the incident to the student conduct administrator.
• If appropriate, considering the situation, end the class early and report the incident using the Student Conduct Report Form.
• If a student is asked to leave, or the class is dismissed, and the student continues to cause a classroom disruption, faculty or staff should contact the University Police Department (UPD) for support.

Student Conduct Procedures

The Student Conduct Administrator (SCA) at Stan State is the associate dean of students in Student Affairs. The dean of students (DOS) and the SCA should be consulted when all educational avenues have been exhausted and a student repeatedly fails to comply with communicated campus safety protocols.

I. Student Conduct Code Violation

Students failing to comply with the communicated campus safety protocols and procedures are subject to discipline pursuant to CSU Executive Order 1098: Student Conduct Code Procedures, (rev. 8/14/20). Title V of the California Code of Regulations, Section 41301, Student Conduct Code, describes the grounds on which a student can be disciplined, including:

• “Conduct that threatens or endangers the health or safety of any person within or related to the University community, including physical abuse, threats, intimidation, harassment or sexual misconduct.”
• “Violation of any published University policy, rule, regulation or presidential order.”
• “Failure to comply with directions of, or interference with, any University official or any public safety officer while acting in the performance of his/her duties.”

Students failing to comply with campus safety protocols and procedures, including in connection with on-campus instruction, are subject to discipline based on the above grounds.

II. Reporting Procedures

The following are behaviors that may warrant consultation or intervention by the student conduct administrator:

• Repeated and intentional failure to wear a face covering after multiple and clear warnings.
• Repeatedly and intentionally violating any safety directives established by the University after fair and clear warnings.
• Repeated failure to complete required testing.

Students should be allowed to correct the behavior without consequence. Students who forget, engage in unintentional carelessness, or act in haste should be given verbal warnings. A non-compliant student should be reported to the Office of Student Conduct through the Student Conduct Reporting Form only after refusal to follow and comply with campus safety protocols.

III. Sanctioning

• On the first occurrence, a student will be allowed to correct the behavior through education.  A student who engages in unintentional carelessness or willful non-compliance should be given a verbal warning. After addressing the issue with the student, any individual responding to student non-compliance is asked to complete the Student Conduct Reporting Form, which is routed to the Office of Student Conduct. It is critical that all warnings and incidents are memorialized in writing for record-keeping and escalation of complaints and to ensure due process of disciplinary proceedings.
   
• On the second occurrence, a student who has violated the safety protocols and procedures will be referred to the DOS/SCA. The office will conduct a review and consider the circumstances in totality to determine appropriate action.  

Below is a list of actions that are typically considered. There is no pre-determined order or sequencing of the sanctioning as the circumstances, and severity of the incident(s) are taken into consideration. An educational approach will be taken toward addressing non-compliance; however, egregious violations could escalate student behaviors through the formal student conduct process.

Typical Progression of Actions

IV. Interim Suspension

Under severe circumstances where it is determined that there is a threat to any individuals in the campus community, an Interim Suspension may be considered. Under Article VI of CSU Executive Order 1098 (rev. 8/14/20), per Title V of the California Code of Regulations, Section 41302, an interim suspension may be considered and evaluated, “where there is reasonable cause to believe that separation of a Student is necessary to protect the personal safety of persons within the University community or University Property, and to ensure the maintenance of order.”