Faculty Senate approves formation of security committee
A proposal to form a committee to oversee federal compliance of the Clery Act was unanimously approved by Faculty Senate last Tuesday.
Matt Dorschel, executive director of Public Safety and Security, originally proposed the committee’s formation on Feb. 17, but has since amended the proposal in response to concerns from Faculty Senate about the membership being too large.
The purpose of the committee, Dorschel said, is to handle matters regarding the Clery Act, which entails compiling and reporting all reportable crime statistics to the U.S. Department of Education.
He said the committee would also review and recommend changes to safety procedures and review the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, which is UI’s version of a document mandated by the federal government.
The committee’s membership originally contained 16 members. Faculty Senate previously voted to add an additional undergraduate student and a faculty or staff representative from a non-Moscow location to the roster, raising the size of the committee to 18 members.
The proposal was then sent back to Dorschel to review and reduce the membership.
“I was just using my experience in terms of who has a major role when it comes to Clery compliance,” Dorschel said. “I looked at the list and decided that those offices that are no longer on there were the offices that had the least input into the Clery process.”
The approved membership list contains 13 members: Dorschel and a representative from Staff Affairs, General Counsel, the Dean of Students Office, Moscow Police Department, as well as two faculty members, one non-Moscow representative, UI’s Title IX coordinator, Environmental Health and Safety Fire Safety specialist, two undergraduate students and one graduate student.
The representatives eliminated include Human Resource Services, Athletic Department, Admissions, Women’s Center and Information Technology Services.
Dorschel said he is confident in the new size of the committee and thinks the productivity of the committee would not be hindered by the roster reduction.
“The Office of Public Safety coordinates with many offices on campus, almost daily,” he said. “It was just kind of an effort to reduce the number, not to minimize the role all the offices have when it comes to helping to ensure we have a safe campus.”
If issues do arise that require insight from outside the committee, Dorschel said the information is available.
“We’ll just appoint a member of the committee … to formerly coordinate with whatever office we’ll need to,” he said.
Dorschel said the goal is to have the committee meet at least three times a year. Members need to be identified and appointed through Faculty Senate’s Committee on Committees. He said he hopes the process would be completed and the committee would be ready to work by May of this year.
Katelyn Hilsenbeck can be reached at[email protected]