document iconmyCSUSM
cougar courses logoCOUGAR COURSES
email iconEMAIL
email iconMS OFFICE APPS
password iconPASSWORD
MANAGEMENT
Your  Account:
document iconmyCSUSM
cougar courses logoCOUGAR COURSES
email iconEMAIL
office iconMS OFFICE APPS
password iconPASSWORD
MANAGEMENT
Office of the President

Timely Incident Response Task Force

CSUSM main campus

CSUSM is committed to being a safe, welcoming, and inclusive campus for our students, employees and visitors. We value the broad spectrum of human experience and believe strongly in our obligation to fight ignorance and intolerance, modeling inclusivity and the power of diversity. To that end, President Neufeldt has formed a Timely Incident Response Task Force with a two-part charge:

  • Broadly review CSUSM’s current policies and practices as they pertain to responding to public incidents of hate on campus; and
  • Recommend protocol for meaningful response following a public incident of hate on our campus while upholding First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and expression.

As part of their work, the expectation is for the task force to review best practices at other institutions of higher education and solicit input from a broad range of campus experts and voices.

The task force convened in mid-September 2022. The elements of the charge were divided into three overarching focus areas/work groups:

  • Catalog and examine CSUSM’s current policies and practices specific to responding to public incidents of hate on campus and pursue information regarding sufficient/non-sufficient and non-existent policy.
  • Collect and consider best practices for responding to public incidents of hate in higher education while understanding threshold levels regarding emergency incidents vs campus concerns.
  • Identify protocol elements that would create a strong and accurate response and communication to the campus community on public incidents of hate.

Dialogue & Listening Sessions

A series of campus dialogue and listening sessions will be held in spring 2023 to provide task force members with a better understanding of the needs of the campus surrounding the communication of timely public incidents.

In-Person Employee Session

Monday, February 20, 2023
Noon - 1 pm
Light snacks & refreshments to be provided
In-Person Registeration

Virtual Employee Session

Wednesday, March 8, 2023
10 - 11 am
Virtual Registeration

Student Sessions

Students sessions are being scheduled and will be shared here soon!

Taskforce Membership

  • Dr. Aswad Allen, Chief Diversity Office/Chair
  • Margaret Chantung, Chief Communications Officer
  • Dr. Gail Cole-Avent, Associate Vice President, Student Life
  • Jesus Flores, Interim Chief of Police
  • Lucia Gordon, Communications Lecturer/Academic Anti-Racism, Anti-Colonialism, and Social Justice Committee Representative
  • Bibi Hernandez, Donor Relations Coordinator/Staff Representative
  • Dr. Bongjoo Hwang, Executive Director, Student Health & Counseling Services/SH&C Representative
  • Michelle Kinzel, GIS Specialist/Staff Representative
  • Cheryl Landin, Assistant Director of Strategic Initiatives /Assistant to Chair
  • Ryan Maxson, Director of Government Relations
  • Dr. Alison Scheer-Cohen, Professor of Speech Language Pathology & Academic Senate Vice Chair
  • Iliana Ramirez, Student/ASI Diversity & Inclusion Representative
  • Stephania Rey, Student/President’s Inclusive Excellence Advisory Council Representative
  • Jason Schreiber, Dean of Students
  • Ariel Stevenson, Interim Deputy Diversity Officer
  • Dr. Lori Walkington, Assistant Professor of Sociology / Academic Senate Anti-Racism, Anti-Colonialism, and Social Justice Committee Representative