XII. Selected College Policies
Overview
This section summarizes important Oakridge College policies that apply to faculty, students, staff, and college activities. These policies support safety, fairness, academic order, and the proper use of college authority.
Selected Policies
Each entry below gives the policy name, a short summary, what the policy requires or forbids, and where a concern should be reported.
Academic Freedom
Faculty may teach, question, research, and discuss difficult subjects when they are relevant to the course or academic purpose.
Academic freedom does not permit harassment, threats, discrimination, misuse of authority, or conduct that creates an unsafe learning environment.
Academic freedom allows faculty and students to examine difficult, unpopular, complex, or controversial subjects. Faculty should be able to explain how classroom material, discussion, or activity connects to the course, department, program, or academic purpose. Difficult material should be handled with care, especially when it concerns violence, discrimination, trauma, religion, politics, sexuality, death, or other sensitive subjects.
Questions about the limits of academic freedom in a course should go to the Department Chair or Dean. See Sections V and VI.
Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment
Oakridge College prohibits discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and hostile conduct toward students, faculty, staff, or visitors. The standard binds faculty, students, and staff alike.
Faculty must not harass, threaten, target, or exclude students or colleagues on the basis of identity, protected status, personal background, role, academic interest, disagreement, or social position. Harassment may include repeated unwanted conduct, severe verbal abuse, intimidation, sexual misconduct, bullying, targeted humiliation, or conduct that interferes with a person's ability to take part in college life.
Academic discussion of difficult topics is not automatically harassment, and disagreement is part of academic life. Faculty should not punish students for asking questions or holding a different view, and should intervene when behavior becomes disruptive, threatening, harassing, unsafe, or prevents others from taking part.
Serious harassment or discrimination concerns should be reported to the Department Chair, Dean, Student Affairs, Campus Security, or senior administration as appropriate. When the situation is unsafe, it should be brought to Campus Security or senior administration immediately. See Sections VI and VII.
Personal Relationships and Boundaries
Faculty hold a position of trust, and they must maintain appropriate professional boundaries with students. A faculty member may be friendly and supportive, may mentor students, answer questions, and take part in appropriate campus life, but the faculty member remains responsible for keeping the relationship suitable for an academic setting.
Faculty must not use their position to seek romantic attention, sexual attention, personal loyalty, money, gifts, favors, private services, special treatment, or personal involvement unrelated to the academic role. Faculty must not treat a student better or worse because of friendship, romance or personal interest, family ties, student organization membership, personal loyalty, disagreement, social status, rumors, retaliation, or gifts and favors.
Faculty should be careful with private meetings, personal messages, and informal relationships. The authority a faculty member holds can affect how freely a student feels able to say no, so faculty should not place students in situations where refusal may feel unsafe, embarrassing, or academically risky.
A faculty member who believes a boundary concern may exist should speak with the Department Chair or Dean. A serious boundary concern should be brought to the Dean or senior administration. See Sections V and VI.
Alcohol and Drug Use
Faculty and students should not perform official duties, attend class in a disruptive condition, supervise students, or represent Oakridge while impaired.
Alcohol may be present at approved college events only when permitted by the event rules and the location. Even at an approved event, faculty are expected to maintain professional judgment and appropriate boundaries. Faculty and students remain responsible for safe and orderly conduct at the event.
Substance use becomes a conduct matter when it affects classroom instruction, student safety, professional judgment, department duties, public behavior at college events, communication with students or colleagues, or the reputation and functioning of Oakridge College.
A faculty member who appears impaired during official duties may be removed from the duty and reported to the Department Chair, Dean, or senior administration. A student who is impaired and unsafe may be removed from the class or event, and Campus Security should be called when the situation cannot be safely controlled. Impairment during official duties may also require disciplinary review. See Sections VI, VII, and XI.
Public Order and Campus Safety
Faculty are responsible for keeping academic spaces orderly and safe. Ordinary disruption should be handled calmly by the faculty member, through redirection, a clear statement of the expected behavior, a warning, and removal from the class when the behavior continues.
Campus Security should be contacted when a situation moves beyond ordinary classroom authority. This includes a threat, physical aggression, a weapon displayed, implied, or reported, stalking or pursuit, and a person being cornered, harassed, followed, or intimidated. It also includes a person who is impaired and unsafe, a person who refuses to leave after being dismissed, a medical emergency, fire, smoke, gas, or hazardous material, disruption of nearby campus activity, and any situation where the faculty member cannot safely restore order. Campus Security should not be called only because a student disagrees, expresses an unpopular view, or takes part in a tense but controlled academic discussion.
In an emergency, life safety comes first, and classes, schedules, property, and procedure come second. Faculty should follow the instructions of Campus Security, law enforcement, and emergency responders, and should report the incident once the immediate danger has passed.
A report after an emergency or serious incident should go to the Department Chair, Dean, Campus Security, Student Affairs, or senior administration, depending on the incident. See Section VII.
Use of College Facilities
Faculty and students should use classrooms, lecture halls, offices, studios, laboratories, event spaces, and outdoor spaces only for approved purposes.
Each space should be used for the purpose it is suited for, and a specialized space such as a laboratory, studio, or performance space requires proper approval. A space should not be reserved larger than the activity needs.
A location booked for an official calendar event should not host another official calendar event in the same space at the same time. Stream use is limited, so when a stream is already booked, another event cannot use that stream unless the existing booking is canceled, moved, or formally overridden by proper authority.
A scheduling conflict should first be settled between the people responsible for the events. When they cannot settle it, the matter goes to the Department Chair, then the Dean, then the Vice President or President. A safety concern during an event goes to Campus Security. See Section X.
Student Privacy and Records
Faculty should treat student academic and personal information with care.
Student information should only be shared with people who have a proper college reason to know.
A proper reason may include supporting the student, addressing misconduct, protecting safety, handling academic records, resolving a complaint, or carrying out department or college duties. For those reasons faculty may share information with a Department Chair, Dean, Student Affairs, Campus Security, Registrar, or senior administration. Faculty should avoid discussing student problems in public spaces, open chat, or unrelated social settings.
Faculty should not promise confidentiality when safety, misconduct, or college reporting duties are involved, and a serious safety concern should never be kept private. It should be reported to the proper authority, and to Campus Security when there is danger. See Sections V, VI, and VII.
Academic Records and Course Accuracy
Course entries, enrollment records, grades or credit records, attendance records, and course descriptions should be accurate and updated only by authorized people.
Faculty should not change official course information without approval from the Department Chair, Dean, Registrar, or other proper authority, and a course change should be reported before it affects students.
A minor correction may be handled by the Department Chair or Registrar. A larger change may require Dean review. Student questions about records, enrollment, registration, or credits go to the Registrar. See Section IX.
Conflicts of Interest
Faculty should disclose personal, financial, romantic, family, or close social conflicts that could affect grading, discipline, hiring, promotion, advising, or recommendations.
When a conflict exists, the faculty member may need to step away from the decision, review, recommendation, or disciplinary matter. Faculty should not make an academic decision for someone when their judgment may reasonably be questioned, and should disclose a conflict before taking part in a review, vote, recommendation, or decision.
A possible conflict should be disclosed to the Department Chair or Dean. See Sections VI and VIII.
Speech, Speakers, and Public Events
Faculty may invite speakers and hold public academic events with approval.
Events should not be used to bypass safety rules, scheduling procedures, or college authority.
Faculty should seek approval when an event is open to the public, uses a major campus space, requires Campus Security, may draw a large audience, involves a controversial or high-risk speaker, requires special equipment or setup, affects traffic, access, or normal campus activity, or represents Oakridge College to the wider community. A public event should be planned early enough for proper review.
Faculty should not claim to speak for the college, a School, or a department without authority to do so, and should avoid creating confusion between personal opinion and official college position.
An event that requires space, scheduling, security, special equipment, or public notice should be approved through the proper college process before it is scheduled. If a safety concern develops during an event, Campus Security should be contacted immediately. See Sections VI, VIII, and X.
Research and Scholarly Responsibility
Research should follow department, School, and college standards.
Research involving students, sensitive records, hazardous material, public risk, or human subjects should receive proper review before it begins.
That review is given by the Department Chair, Dean, or other appropriate college authority. Research should support the mission of the college by strengthening teaching, improving programs, contributing to the faculty member's field, or serving the wider Briarmont community.
A concern about research conduct or safety, or a question about whether an activity needs review, goes to the Department Chair or Dean. See Section VIII.
Technology, Media, and Recordings
Faculty should not record, publish, or distribute class, meeting, hearing, or student material without proper consent or college purpose.
Faculty should not share private student concerns, academic problems, disciplinary matters, or personal information publicly, and should not use messages, notices, or public posts to harass, shame, threaten, or pressure students or colleagues.
Stream, equipment, and setup needs for an event are arranged through the event request, and stream use is limited. When an Oakridge title is used in public, faculty should remember that their conduct may reflect on the college.
Concerns about recordings, public communication, or the use of college media go to the Department Chair or Dean. See Sections VI and X.
Retaliation
No one should punish, threaten, exclude, or harass a person for making a good-faith report, participating in a hearing, serving as a witness, or raising a concern through proper channels.
Retaliation against a student or colleague for making a complaint is a misuse of authority. Faculty must not treat a student better or worse because a complaint was made, and must not use grades, recommendations, or opportunities as pressure.
A retaliation concern should be reported to the Department Chair, Dean, Student Affairs, Campus Security, or senior administration. When the concern involves the person who would normally receive the report, or when the matter is urgent or unsafe, it should be taken to the next level of authority. See Sections VI and XI.
General Rule
Faculty are expected to know these policies, follow them, and bring serious matters to the proper authority instead of handling them alone. These entries are summaries, and the fuller handbook sections carry the complete standard.
Faculty who are unsure which policy applies, or where a concern belongs, should ask the Department Chair or Dean. A safety concern should go to Campus Security without waiting.