From the Vice President for Finance and Management
The Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP) is available for 2009 to eligible CSEA, PEF, UUP, and M/C employees. This program gives eligible employees the opportunity to exchange previously accrued annual leave (vacation) and/or personal leave for a credit toward the cost of their health-insurance premiums. Sick leave credit cannot be exchanged under this program.

The enrollment period for the 2009 program is October 27–November 28, 2008. In order to participate, eligible employees must file an election form by November 28, 2008. Participants currently enrolled in PEP must submit a new election form to participate in the 2009 program.

During the 2009 calendar year, eligible full-time employees who enroll in this program will forfeit a total of three days of annual and/or personal leave from the balance of accruals on record at the time of enrollment. In turn, they will receive a credit of up to $450 to be divided evenly and applied toward the health-insurance premiums deducted from their biweekly paychecks. Eligible part-time employees may participate on a prorated basis in accordance with their payroll/employment percentage.

The complete Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP) description, including eligibility requirements and enrollment forms, is available in Cleveland Hall 410 or on the Human Resource Management Web site. Please call Human Resource Management at 878-4821 with questions or for more information.

A copy of the Buffalo State College campus crime statistics as reported annually to the U.S. Department of Education will be provided upon request. Please direct all such requests to the Chief of University Police, Chase Hall, Buffalo State College, 1300 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222, (716) 878-6332. Information can also be obtained from the U.S. Department of Education Web site at http://ope.ed.gov/security/ or the Buffalo State Web site athttp://www.buffalostate.edu/offices/police/safety/default.asp?sub=crimestats.

From the Vice President for Finance and Management

Preface
This serves as a notice to new employees and a reminder to others of the procedures to follow during snow emergencies and other extraordinary circumstances. Offices and other facilities operated by the state may be closed only by order of the governor; however, the college president or her designee is authorized to cancel classes and recommend that all but essential service* employees not report to work.

Policy and Procedures
The president has delegated the authority to cancel classes and services to the vice president for finance and management. University Police is responsible for monitoring all relevant weather conditions and reporting to the vice president for finance and management.

If the decision to close the college and cancel classes is made before the start of the workday, the vice president for finance and management will inform University Police. If the decision to close is made once classes are in session, the vice president for finance and management will consult with the provost/vice president for academic affairs and notify University Police of the decision. University Police will notify College Relations, who will notify the following broadcast stations in either case:

AM Radio
WBEN-AM 930
WECK-AM 1230
WHLD-AM 1270
WLVL-AM 1340
WJJL-AM 1440
WWKB-AM 1520

FM Radio
WBNY-FM 91.3 (campus)
WBUF-FM 92.9
WBLK-FM 93.7
WJYE-FM 96.1
WGRF-FM 96.9 (97 Rock)
WKSE-FM 98.5
STAR-FM 102.5
WEDG-FM 103.3
WHTT-FM 104.1
WYRK-FM 106.5

Television
WGRZ-TV 2
WIVB-TV 4
WKBW-TV 7

An early decision to close the college and cancel classes will be relayed to the stations listed above by about 6:00 a.m.

In addition, the College Relations Office will send a message via the NY-Alert system to all students, faculty, and staff members who have chosen to participate in this emergency notification system.

For information concerning cancellation of classes, please check the main page of the Buffalo State Web site,www.buffalostate.edu, or call the school closing information number, 878-5000. Please do not call any other number for this information.

Attendance Policy under Emergency Conditions
If classes and services are canceled before the workday begins, employees designated essential service* are required to report. All other employees are excused under emergency conditions but must charge the absence to appropriate leave accruals. Employees who elect to come to work may do so; however, the college cannot guarantee that they will be able to work at their usual locations or perform their normal duties. (See instructions below for employees who choose to report for work under emergency conditions.)

Should the closure occur during the workday, the vice president for finance and management will convey the decision to the other vice presidents, who will ensure that the announcement is communicated throughout their respective areas. Again, essential service* employees are required to remain on the job or report to work as scheduled in this instance. Following official closure, employees may leave their work sites and charge the remainder of their workday to appropriate leave accruals or continue working until their regular departure time.

Absences that result from the cancellation of classes and services must be charged to appropriate leave accruals as described below.

1. Vacation, personal, compensatory, or holiday leave.
2. Sick leave, but only in the event of personal or family illness.
3. Leave without pay. (A written request must be submitted to the Human Resource Management Office no later than the end of the pay period in which the attendance record is due.)

*Essential services are those that must be maintained to ensure the well-being and protection of those who reside on campus, as well as the maintenance and security of college property. The following functions are considered essential services. Employees assigned to these areas are required to report to work under emergency conditions:

• The law enforcement division of University Police.
• Campus Services and Facilities operations (all employees).
• Student health services (designated staff only).
• Residence Life (designated staff only).
• The dean of students.
• Staff responsible for the care and feeding of animals and maintenance of greenhouse facilities.

All employees who are designated essential service will be notified in writing by their department heads.

Directed Absences
Any employee who has reported to work and because of extraordinary circumstances beyond the employee's control (i.e., extremely hazardous conditions or physical plant breakdown) is directed by the college president or her designee to leave work shall not be required to charge this absence to leave accruals. Any such release of employees shall not create any right to equivalent time off to employees who are not directed to leave work. Supervisors, regardless of their good intentions, may not direct such absences.

Instructions for Nonessential Service Employees Who Elect to Report for Work under Emergency Conditions
Note: Parking may be severely restricted during periods of temporary emergency. Employees who report to work under these conditions must park in the Grant Street lot so that other lots may be cleared of snow.

1. Employees must report to University Police, Chase Hall 110, to sign the Attendance Record/Emergency Conditions sheet. Employees also must sign the sheet before leaving campus.
2. Employees report to regular work locations and perform regular duties, even if their supervisor is absent.
3. If the employee's regular work location is not accessible, the employee must report to the director of Campus Services and Facilities, Clinton Center, 878-6111, or the director of Residence Life, Porter Hall, 878-3000, for assignment.

Civil Service Law allows all employees to take up to four hours of paid leave annually for screening for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer screening includes physical exams and blood work for the detection of prostate cancer. Reasonable travel time is included in the four-hour cap.

All employees are similarly entitled to take up to four hours of paid leave annually for breast cancer screening. Breast cancer screening includes mammograms and physical exams for the detection of breast cancer.

Employees who undergo screenings outside their regular work schedules do so on their own time. Official medical documentation verifying the screening may be required. These leaves are not cumulative and expire on the last day of the calendar year. Please direct questions about these paid leaves to the Payroll Office at 878-4124 or toEmmanuel J. Hillery, associate director of human resource management, 878-4822.

From the Vice President for Finance and Management
Buffalo State College will conduct a campuswide test of the NY-Alert emergency communication system on Tuesday, October 21, at approximately 12:30 p.m. At this time, all students, faculty, and staff who signed up for the service will receive a test alert via text message, automated phone message, e-mail, or fax.

Faculty and staff may sign up by visiting the SUNY employee portal. Click on SUNY Secure Sign On on the right side of the page, select Buffalo State from the pull-down menu, and enter NT user name and password. Once logged in, click on the NY-Alert icon on the right side of the page and follow the instructions. Faculty and staff who wish to update their information may simply log in to the employee portal and resubmit their information. The new record will replace the existing record the next time the data are uploaded.

Students can sign up through Banner. Click on thePersonal Information link and select Emergency Alert Contact Information (NY-Alert) to begin the registration process. Students wishing to change their contact information or opt out of the system can do so at any time by logging in to Banner.

The information students, faculty, and staff provide is confidential and can be used only for emergency notification.

From the Senior Adviser to the President for Equity and Campus Diversity
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.

Therefore, to avoid the breakdown of mutual trust and respect, which 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 that 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 ensure 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.
• 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 that 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) that 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 that 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.

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 Diversity Office, pursuant to the Buffalo State College Grievance Procedure for Review of Allegations of Discrimination.

Approved July 29, 1997

From the Chair of the College Senate
The next meeting of the College Senate will be held at 3:00 p.m. Friday, October 10, in Classroom Building C122. The meeting agenda is available on the College Senate Web Site.

From the Vice President for Finance and Management
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 establishdeposits 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 course work, 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 James Thor, associate vice president and comptroller, 878-4312 with questions concerning this policy.

From the Vice President for Finance and Management
A copy of the Buffalo State College campus crime statistics as reported annually to the U.S. Department of Education will be provided upon request. Please direct all such requests to the Chief of University Police, Chase Hall, Buffalo State College, 1300 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222, (716) 878-6332. Information can also be obtained from the U.S. Department of Education Web site or the Buffalo State University Police Web site.

From the President
I am pleased to announce the updated membership for the 2008–2009 Buffalo State College Commencement Committee:

Chair: Raquel Schmidt, Associate Professor, Exceptional Education
Patricia Alessandra, Senior Staff Associate, Academic and Student Affairs
Mark Bausili, Registrar, Registrar’s Office
Nancy Chicola, Associate Professor, Elementary Education and Reading
Thomas Coates, Director, Events Management
Robert Delprino, Associate Professor, Psychology
John DeNisco, Interim Chair and Associate Professor, Business
Lee Ann Grace, Assistant Dean, International and Exchange Programs
Joy Guarino, Assistant Professor, Theater
Deborah Insalaco, Associate Professor, Speech-Language Pathology
Lydia Kawaler, Manager, HRIS/Personnel Operations, Human Resource Management
Marsha Moses, Assistant to the Dean, the Graduate School
Jill Powell, Senior Assistant to the Vice President for Institutional Advancement
William Raffel, Associate Professor, Communication
Jean Salisbury, Secretary 2, University College
Amitra Wall, Associate Professor, Sociology
Gail Wells, Director, Student Life
William White, Assistant Professor, Modern and Classical Languages
Rita Zientek, Associate Dean, School of the Professions
Student Representatives: Dominique Gabriel,President, United Students Government (USG);Huewayne Watson, Executive Vice President, USG; and Ibrahim Traore, Vice President, Caribbean Students Organization

This committee serves as an advisory committee to the president, reviewing and forwarding recommendations for procedural and operational changes to the Commencement ceremonies, as well as other processes involved with Commencement.