Each year Buffalo State College faculty and staff support the SEFA/United Way campaign with open hands and open hearts. The effort is led by colleagues who volunteer their time and service to the campaign–a campaign that benefits our friends, our neighbors, and our community. 

The success of this year’s campaign, as with all of our efforts on campus, will not be possible without the generous giving that is a hallmark of our college. More than 100 faculty and staff members attended the two kickoff sessions. President Podolefsky addressed the afternoon event, while Matthew Levin-Stankevich, ’07, Buffalo State Alumni Association secretary and director of strategic development for the United Way, spoke to attendees from the third shift.

Campus support has always been strong for this annual event, and I know we will continue that tradition again this year. As the 2010 SEFA/United Way Campaign Chair for Buffalo State College, and as a donor to the campaign, I ask that each of you consider making a gift. Our goal is to raise $125,000 and achieve 100 percent participation. With your help we can achieve both of these lofty goals.

Thank you for your past support, and for your participation in this year’s campaign. I look forward to seeing each of you at our donor closing celebration!

Sincerely,

Dr. Susanne P. Bair
Vice President, Institutional Advancement
Chair, 2010 SEFA/United Way Campaign

An incident of workplace violence could have lifelong consequences for employees and their families. The Human Resource Management Office offers a Workplace Violence/Domestic Violence Prevention Training program for all employees. Sessions will be conducted by Sam Lunetta, retired University Police lieutenant. Participation at this training is mandated for all public employees under New York State Labor Law Section 27-b.

Topics to be covered include: recognizing warning signs for potential violence, assessing risk in various work settings, what to do and what not to do if presented with a violent situation, and campus resources available to prevent violence.

Sessions will be held in Cleveland Hall 418 from 10:00 a.m. to noon on: Tuesday, October 12 and Wednesday, October 13.

To register for one of the sessions, visit the HR website or call ext. 4822.

This training is now available online for those who are unable to attend the group sessions. Employees may access the program on ANGEL. In the Campus Group Section, select “Workplace Violence Prevention Group.”

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, 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 that 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, and suspension.

Click here to continue reading

From the Senior Adviser to the President for Equity and Campus Diversity
I. Policy
It is the policy of Buffalo State College to provide an employment and educational environment free of unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct or communication, constituting sexual harassment as defined and otherwise prohibited by state and federal statutes.

II. Rationale
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued guidelines interpreting Section 703 of Title VII as prohibiting sexual harassment (29 CFR 1604.11). Sexual harassment is defined in these guidelines as follows:

"Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when (1) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment; (2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual; or (3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment."

Sexual harassment is an affront to human dignity and will not be tolerated at Buffalo State College. As an educational institution, we do not condone or tolerate any verbal or physical conduct that would constitute sexual harassment of any member of the college or college community. Buffalo State College is committed to the intellectual, personal, and professional growth of its students, faculty, and staff. The goal of the college is to inspire a lifelong passion for learning and to empower a diverse population of students to succeed as citizens within a challenging world. The college is dedicated to excellence in teaching and scholarship, cultural enrichment, and service in order to enhance the quality of life in Buffalo and the larger community. Actions of members of the college community that harm this atmosphere undermine and hinder the educational mission.

Sexual harassment is particularly serious when it threatens the relationship between faculty and students or supervisor and subordinate. In such situations, sexual harassment unfairly exploits the power inherent in the faculty member or supervisor's position. The college will not tolerate behavior that creates an unacceptable working or educational environment between or among members of the college community.

Click here to continue reading

From the Vice President for Finance and Management
The Emergency Response Planning Group and University Police will conduct a test of the college’s Outdoor Emergency Alert Horn at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, October 14. People who are outdoors during the test will hear a series of three loud one-minute horn blasts emanating from the central heating plant. Please note: the horn is primarily intended to be audible at outdoor locations on campus—not inside buildings.

In a real emergency, the horn will sound for five full minutes. If a real emergency alert is signaled, immediately seek shelter and await further instructions communicated via NY-Alert, e-mail, www.buffalostate.edu, or direct instructions from University Police.

Approximately one hour before the test horn sounds on October 14 at 12:30 p.m., the college will issue a campuswide test of the NY-Alert emergency communication system. At this time, all students, faculty, and staff who have registered with the service will be sent a test alert via text message, automated phone message, e-mail, or fax.

Faculty and staff may register for NY-Alert through the SUNY employee portal. Students can register through Banner. Thank you for your patience as we test these critical emergency notification systems.

President Podolefsky and Provost Ponton would like to thank the Buffalo State community for its terrific response to the open faculty and staff breakfasts. All previously announced breakfasts are now full, so we will be unable to take any further reservations. Thank you very much for your interest in these gatherings.

From the Vice President for Finance and Management
The Internal Control Act of the State of New York requires Buffalo State College to communicate the following information on agency responsibilities and standards:

The internal control standards define the minimum level of quality acceptable for internal control systems in operation and constitute the criteria against which systems are to be evaluated. These internal control standards apply to all operations and administrative functions (both manual and automated), but are not intended to limit or interfere with duly granted authority related to development of legislation, rule making, or other discretionary policy making in an agency.

General Standards

1. Reasonable Assurance. Internal control systems are to provide reasonable assurance that the objectives of the systems will be accomplished.

2. Supportive Attitude. Managers and employees are to maintain and demonstrate a positive and supportive attitude toward internal controls at all times.

3. Competent Personnel. Managers and employees are to have personal and professional integrity and are to maintain a level of competence that allows them to accomplish their assigned duties, as well as to understand the importance of developing and implementing good internal controls.

4. Control Objectives. Internal control objectives are to be identified or developed for each agency activity and are to be logical, applicable, and reasonably complete.

5. Control Techniques. Internal control techniques are to be effective and efficient in accomplishing their internal control objectives.

6. Continuous Monitoring. Agency heads are to establish and maintain a program of internal review designed to identify internal control weaknesses and implement changes needed to correct the weaknesses.

Click here to continue reading

Banner will be down for scheduled maintenance from 5:00 p.m. Thursday, October 7, until approximately 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, October 13. There will be no access to Banner INB or SSB during this time. This means that schedule changes cannot be entered by the Registrar's Office or by academic departments. It also means that students will not be able to search for classes, preview their time tickets, or view holds.

From the Vice President for Finance and Management
The SUNY Office of University Counsel advises that all college offices should be notified of the procedures to follow regarding the receipt of legal papers of any kind by a campus employee. Accordingly, Buffalo State’s procedures are as follows:

The associate vice president for finance and management/comptroller is the college’s official liaison to the Office of University Counsel for the purpose of receipt of service of legal papers on the college, notification of the area of the college affected (required to respond), and decision about who should notify SUNY counsel, the attorney general, or other parties. When legal papers of any kind are served upon a campus employee or the college, the campus liaison should be contacted immediately and the legal papers should be forwarded to the liaison.

If the associate vice president for finance and management/comptroller is unavailable, the referral should be made to the assistant vice president for finance and management.

This procedure is especially important when legal papers request personnel files or information on students or are requests made under the USA Patriot Act. Various other rights, such as those afforded by FERPA, the Personal Privacy Protection law, and collective bargaining agreements are involved in those situations.

From the Vice President for Finance and Management
The Governor’s Office of Employee Relations issued a memorandum revisiting the state’s policy regarding the need to separate political campaign activities by state employees from the conduct of official state business.

While employees are not discouraged from participating in the political campaign process, they must keep their political campaign activities separate from the discharge of their duties as state employees. For the purposes of these guidelines, “political campaign activities” include any act, activity, or event designed to communicate a political endorsement, urge voters to vote for a particular candidate, support a political party, or raise funds for a political candidate or party.

Political campaign activities—such as campaigning, coordinating volunteers, and soliciting or receiving campaign contributions—are not within the scope of the official duties of executive branch employees and they may not conduct campaign activities on state time. Performing political campaign activities on state time may subject employees to criminal prosecution and the loss of employment.

In addition, and in furtherance of the Governor’s Executive Order Number 7, all state vehicles, offices, equipment, and resources, including telephones, computers, fax machines, office supplies, postage, photocopying machines, and support staff assistance, are the property of the state, and employees may not use that property for assistance for political campaign activities. In those limited circumstances where employees are permitted personal use of state property—for example, vehicles assigned to individuals for both business and personal use—employees must make an appropriate accounting of the use of that property for political campaign activity.

Employees are also reminded that they are prohibited from engaging in the political activities stated in Section 74 of the Public Officers Law, Section 107 of the Civil Service Law, and Sections 17–156 of the Election Law.

Section 74 of the Public Officers Law states a Code of Ethics for state employees. Information on the restrictions that Section 74 places on political activities of state employees may be found on the New York State website.

Click here to continue reading