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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

President's Wednesday Message


I’m certain that at some point in the history of higher education, summer was a quiet time for reflection and renewal. That era has passed. Now, summer is a time to catch up on growing to-do lists and launch new programs and legislation. To this end, I wanted to update you on a few developments from the first half of summer.

SUNY Excels
At the end of June, SUNY provided all campuses with the templates and data required for
SUNY Excels, the new performance reporting framework. Data included system-defined peer institutions in and outside of New York to facilitate comparisons and goal-setting. Campus plans are due back to SUNY system by September 30; they must address the following:

* Campus alignment with SUNY Excels, including responses to SUNY’s strategic plan and completion goals

* Campus responses to the SUNY Excels metrics and priority areas: Access, Completion, Success, Inquiry, and Engagement.

* Campus performance plans to drive continuous improvement, address local conditions, and positively impact students and the colleges’ internal and external communities, and New York state.

The plans must include faculty input, and the same data provided to the presidents’ offices has been provided to campus shared governance leaders. I have been in communication with Faculty Senate President Mark Ernsthausen regarding the best way to solicit faculty input within the limited time frame offered by SUNY. MCC’s draft plan will be shared through Faculty Senate President Ernsthausen with Faculty Senate in late August, and I will share the outline of this plan at All College Day and work with Faculty Senate to assure MCC’s response is inclusive.

Enough is Enough Legislation                       
On July 8, Governor Cuomo signed the “
Enough is Enough” legislation, which addresses sexual assault on college and university campuses, making this proposal law. Each state college and university, public and private, will now have to certify compliance with the new law annually beginning on July 1, 2016. Among the provisions now codified in law are affirmative consent, alcohol and drug use amnesty in sexual and interpersonal violence cases, the need for a campus climate assessment on sexual assault, a uniform sexual violence response policy and students’ bill of rights. Colleges and universities are also required to provide comprehensive training and education to defined groups of students and employees. They are also required to annotate transcripts to disclose suspensions related to code of conduct violations related to crimes of violence. The new law has some changes that required updates to the recently adopted SUNY state-wide policy on sexual assault. MCC has made these changes. As the compliance requirements with federal and state laws related to this issue continue to escalate, MCC will be moving to hire an individual responsible for the College’s Title IX/Enough is Enough compliance, reporting directly to my office (per the April 2015 “Dear Colleague” letter from the Office of Civil Rights). This summer, I will be forwarding a job description to SCAA for review with a goal of having the position filled in fall.

America’s College Promise Act
In early July, Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin (D) and Virginia Representative Bobbie Scott (D) introduced the
America’s College Promise Act of 2015. This legislation follows closely along the lines of President Obama’s America’s College Promise proposal with the addition of significant benefits for minority-serving institutions. Both Faculty Association President Bethany Gizzi and I were in attendance at a June meeting at the White House on the ACP proposal and there is interest to advance support of this effort at the state level. The ACP Act has yet to attract bi-partisan support, but it has the support of AACC, ACCT, ACE and other higher education groups, plus visible and public praise from various industry groups and labor unions/leaders. As Tennessee and Oregon begin their first year of free community college and California initiates discussion on the same topic, I would anticipate another wave of information on the ACP Act with the start of the new academic year in the fall.

If these three major developments at the system, state, and federal level were not sufficient to fill a summer, there’s more. Add in the ongoing, intensive work on the Upstate Revitalization Initiative, Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council, and Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative; plus our annual summer budget presentation and approval through the Monroe County Legislature. It all makes one wonder if summers ever really were quiet.

Do you have any thoughts or questions on the new SUNY Excels plan, the America’s College Promise Act, or Enough is Enough?  Share them on the
blog.

Anne M. Kress
Office of the President
07/22/2015