SVCC Catalog/Handbook 2017-2018

176 Southside Virginia Community College
Retaliation Prohibited
Retaliation against a grievant or witness for filing or
participating in the investigation of a grievance is prohibited.
Retaliation is any overt or covert act of reprisal,
interference, restraint, penalty, discrimination, intimidation,
or harassment against one or more individuals for
exercising their rights (or supporting others for exercising
their rights) under this policy. The College will
investigate any reports of retaliation and take appropriate
disciplinary action.
Confidentiality
All actions taken to resolve grievances through this process
will be conducted with as much privacy, discretion
and confidentiality as possible without compromising the
thoroughness and fairness of the process. All persons
involved are to treat the process with respect.
Grievance Procedure records should be maintained for a
five-year period.
SEX OFFENDER ADMISSIONS POLICY
Section 23-2.2:1 of the Code of Virginia requires that the
VCCS send enrollment information to the Virginia State
Police concerning applicants to institutions of higher
education. This information is transmitted electronically
and compared against the Virginia Criminal
Information Network and National Crime Information
Center Convicted Sexual Offender Registry. Language
on the web application informs applicants that their
information is being transmitted to the State Police. In the
event that an applicant to Southside Virginia Community
College is determined to be on the Sex Offender
Registry, the following procedures apply:
A. The applicant will be sent a letter to his/her mailing
address by the Dean of Enrollment Management that
states, “Due to your status as a sex offender listed on
the National Crime Information Center convicted
Sexual Offender Registry you must meet with the
SVCC Threat Assessment Team to review your continued
admission status.”
B. The applicant must respond to the request within
seven working days to meet with the team. If the
applicant does not respond within the seven day
request, then he/she will be denied continuing admission
status and administratively withdrawn from
courses if necessary.
C. Via telephone, U.S. mail and electronic mail the applicant
will be provided with a location, date and time
to meet with the team. Failure of the applicant to
appear will result in denied admission.
D. The applicant will be asked to provide the following
information when meeting with the team:
• Disclosure of the nature of the Offense for which
he/she has been convicted,
• Justification for consideration of admission or continuing
admission.
E. Decisions by the Threat Assessment Team will be
made on a case by case basis after a review of the
totality of the circumstances. The information sought
may be the same that will allow an offender to be
removed from the registry. Those include nature and
number of offense(s), date of last offense, length of
time from the last offense, treatment and/or counseling
sought, and restitution completed. The team will
make a recommendation about continued admission
by a majority vote within 12 working days of receiving
the required information and submit their recommendation
to the Vice President of Academic and
Student Affairs.
F. The Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs
will inform the applicant by letter of the decision.
G. The student may appeal the decision by letter directly
to the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs
within seven working days of the date of the letter.
H. The Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs
will review all documents provided by the Threat Assessment
Team and may meet with the applicant to
make a decision within seven working days from the
date of the appeal letter. The decision of the Vice-
President of Academic and Student Affairs shall be
final.
Violence Policy
Southside Virginia Community College strives to offer
students a quality education in a safe and caring environment.
The college also strives to create a safe and
secure place of work for its staff. Therefore, the college
will not tolerate violence of any nature.
Prohibited conduct includes: Any physical assault or
threatening behavior occurring in the workplace by
employees, students, or third parties. It includes, but is
not limited to, beating, stabbing, suicide, shooting, rape,
attempted suicide, psychological trauma such as threats,
obscene phone calls, intentionally damaging property, an
intimidating presence which makes a reasonable person
apprehensive of imminent harm, and harassment of any
nature such as stalking, shouting so as to cause a
disruption, swearing or committing injurious acts
motivated by, or related to, domestic violence or sexual
harassment.
Section 18.2-60 of the Code of Virginia states that any
person who makes a verbal threat to any employee of