Members of the Campus and Village Community,

As students return to Colgate and rejoin the Hamilton community this fall, we are taking this opportunity to write to you together to affirm our shared commitment to ensuring a strong and healthy relationship between Colgate University and the Village of Hamilton.

One key project that we will be working on together this year is ensuring that our local law enforcement professionals have the support they need to serve all members of our community effectively in a context of care and respect. Cities across the nation have learned of the damage caused and pain felt when the relationship between law enforcement officials and the community they serve breaks down. Today, it is not adequate to react to issues and concerns as they arise, nor is it responsible to expect the citizens and the officers who are most likely to be affected by these issues to have the burden of identifying them when they occur. We must instead move together towards an ambitious and proactive plan for affirming and reinforcing a sense of trust and collaboration between the Hamilton Police Department and our campus community.

Before Chief Gifford departed at the end of July, he identified some steps that might be taken to improve communication, understanding and respect between the police department and the groups on campus who have raised specific concerns about law enforcement during the 2015-16 academic year. Along with several other ideas, he encouraged the review of procedures for reporting and reviewing possible instances of profiling as well as regular “coffee breaks” with small groups of students to casually discuss issues of police/student relations.

We will implement and expand on these initiatives, with the goal of making the Village of Hamilton, which includes the Colgate campus, a consistently inclusive and welcoming community. Given the national climate and our shared national history, this will sometimes be challenging work, requiring the best efforts and wisdom of all Hamiltonians, including Colgate students. But we can, and we must, undertake it.

As a first step we will create a working group that brings together members of the campus community (students, faculty, and staff) with members of the wider Village community. That group will review Chief Gifford’s recommendations, map out pressing concerns, and identify best first steps to take to secure the strong relationship between Hamilton police and all campus constituencies. This work is complex and challenging, even daunting. But progress is possible if, and only if, we work together.

We will update members of our shared community as we move forward, and will provide opportunities and mechanisms for those community members who would like to help shape this important work.

Sincerely,

Brian W. Casey, President
Robert McVaugh, Mayor, Village of Hamilton

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Friends,

I write to update everyone on the status of a regional phone outage that continues to disrupt landline telephone service throughout the area.

This outage impacts anyone using a campus phone to call off campus and those trying to call on-campus landline phone numbers from off campus. Calls can be made from one campus landline to another.

Your safety is our number-one priority. Please note the important information below:

In case of an emergency, please remember to call 911 from a cell phone, or use one of the outdoor campus emergency telephones, which are identified by overhead blue lights. They automatically dial into the campus safety office; an officer will be dispatched to provide assistance.

(For students living on campus)
Non-emergency medical attention—Contact your community leader (CL)
Student Counseling and Psychological Services—Contact your community leader (CL)

(For all students)
Student medical transportation—e-mail tips@colgate.edu
Problem with a ’Gate Card—e-mail tips@colgate.edu

For anyone who needs to call campus, please use these temporary numbers: 315-690-4283 or 315-750-4419. In addition, if you are unable to use a cell phone to call off campus, please use these directions for using Google Voice.

Steve Fabiani
Chief Information Officer

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We write to inform you of the transition of responsibility for Student Employment from the financial aid office to the human resources department. Effective immediately, the human resources department will assume oversight of student employment, including collecting I9s from students, receiving Student Employment Request Sheets from supervisors, and assisting supervisors with posting jobs on the Student Employment Portal. During the upcoming semester, the financial aid office will be helping the human resources staff to ensure a smooth transition in meeting the needs of our student employees and their supervisors.

If you have any questions about student employment please contact human resources at x6442 or you may send questions to studentemployment@colgate.edu. The human resources department is located in the upper level of the Saperstein Center. Office hours are 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Please note that students should continue to contact the financial aid office with any questions related to their financial aid package.

For the information of supervisors, the 2016-17 Student Request Sheets that have been submitted by hiring departments have been transferred to HR and further communications will be sent shortly.

Human Resources will very soon be sending additional information to students and supervisors about student employment for the 2016-17 academic year.

Kim Waldron
Associate Vice President for Administration

Gina Soliz
Senior Associate Dean and Director of Financial Aid

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Dear Colgate Faculty and Staff,

I am pleased to announce the duties within the Office of Equity and Diversity that two faculty colleagues have agreed to undertake for 2016-17.

John Palmer, Associate Professor of Educational Studies and Arnold A. Sio Chair in Diversity and Community, will take on a position as Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity in addition to his other duties as department chair and Sio Chair. He will assume primary responsibility for diversity initiatives in OED. With support from Marilyn Rugg, he will continue to have responsibility for affirmative action in faculty hiring.

Marilyn Rugg, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, will continue to serve as Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity and Title IX Coordinator. She will oversee all matters related to Colgate’s Equity Grievance Process, and will provide campus training to ensure that we are in compliance with our obligations under Title IX.

I am very grateful that these two talented and dedicated colleagues have agreed to lend their energies to this important work. With their assistance, I look forward to a year in which we can continue to make progress towards creating a Colgate that is truly for all.

Sincerely,

Constance Harsh
Interim Dean of the Faculty and Provost

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