New Hotline Available for Reporting Violations of COVID-19 Policies

With the numerous COVID-19-related incident reports filed by Marist community members, the Office of Safety & Security has created a new hotline to expedite the reporting process. Students and faculty that witness a COVID-19 code of conduct issue can now directly file a report by calling (845) 575-MASK.

Source: Greta Stuckey ‘23

“Our biggest concern is the off campus parties because the party atmosphere is not really conducive to social distancing and mask wearing, Director of Student Conduct Matthew McMahon said. “Students are meeting up with each other and then when you mix in alcohol, it’s really not the safest environment. We really need those students who live off campus to operate differently than they have in years past. Marist is not operating like it was in years past and we are just trying to keep our students safe and our staff safe.”

Students were notified before returning to campus in August about the new code of conduct for the fall semester of 2020. Prior to returning, all students had to agree and sign the code of conduct as well as watch videos on protecting the Marist community and the behavioral expectations for the fall. Marist Security and the Office of Student Conduct created an incident report tab on their websites so individuals could anonymously write in about a COVID-19 violation. 

Now, the hotline exists to further expedite response times to on- and off-campus incidents. 

“There is an incident reporting form that we have always had and that is used to report any sort of violation, bias-related incident, or in this instance, a violation of the COVID-19 policies,” McMahon said. “We tried to make it more accessible to the community on our website and that report automatically gets sent to the Office of Student Conduct in real time.” 

Marist has also met with the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department to handle incident reports that may take place off campus this year. Security will be notified immediately when the police respond to an incident that involves members of the Marist community to help get a better sense of the situation and identify the people involved. Students have been using the incident report form since the beginning of the semester to report on- and off-campus COVID-19-related wrongdoings. 

“Based on the way things have gone, I think that people know this report exists because we have received several anonymous reports of behavior on and off campus,” McMahon said. “Some of the reports are about students on the green who don’t look like they are wearing masks. We are getting a lot of reporting to have a sense of what's going on with student behavior on campus. Many of those reports are anonymous and they are not really identifying specific individuals responsible for violating the policies.”

The Office of Student Conduct has also received reports from Poughkeepsie community members who aren’t affiliated with Marist. Since the hotline phone number and incident report form is posted on both the Safety and Security website as well as the Student Conduct website, members of the surrounding community can voice their concerns anonymously through the tip line. When students are found breaking the code of conduct rules for the fall semester, they can face a number of different repercussions. 

“We could require students to stay away from campus as we follow up and investigate the incident,” McMahon said. “In that follow-up we may require students to get tested or we may require students to quarantine. Through the student conduct process, there may be circumstances where students are suspended and are not allowed to come to campus as a result of their behavior.”

Despite the anonymity of Marist’s new reporting processes, some students have concerns about using the reporting procedures.

“Turning people against each other is the exact opposite of how Marist should be handling the situation,” Ian Wiesinger ‘23 said. “Instead of turning people against each other with the hotline, they should be trying to bring people together and further educating people on why masks are important.”

Another student even worried the process could turn mean-spirited.

“I personally wouldn't use the hotline because I think that if you're going to expose someone then it shouldn’t be anonymous because that's how you make enemies,” Sydney Bradle ‘23 said. “It could be like someone is ratting you out for no reason just because they don't like you and there is so much bias involved that I don’t think it's fair.”

Marist’s Student Conduct office aims to use the hotline and incident reports to keep the entire community safe and healthy. Their goal is to continue the campus experience for students and faculty until Thanksgiving break. 

“We are looking at many different approaches to try and mitigate risk and keep everyone safe,” McMahon said. “Our goal is educational –– we understand that mistakes happen, but it’s just so important to understand that it can’t be ‘business as usual’ with everything this year because we have to take steps to keep everyone safe.”