Violence Against Women Act Visa and Immigration Resources

 

The State University of New York (SUNY), in partnership with professionals from across the country, prepared a resource that provides immigration and visa information for victims of sexual and interpersonal violence. SUNY, using expert volunteers and the translation service Language Line, has recently translated this resource into 120 languages and is providing copies at no cost to colleges and universities, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations. The document explains certain aspects of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and provides information to immigrant students who are the victims or survivors of sexual or interpersonal violence. Institutions of higher education (IHE) may provide students and employees with this customized document to demonstrate compliance with the written notification provision of VAWA, and to serve and educate students and scholars who may need this type of assistance.

 

SUNY emphasizes that while many who study or conduct research in the U.S. understand English, they may benefit from a document that is available in their native language during a time of trauma and stress. In addition to providing translations, SUNY has made it so that colleges and universities may customize this document with information specific their IHE, and then have that customized information automatically inserted in translated versions of this guidance. Campuses using the translations must include an acknowledgment that "translations are the copyright of the State University of New York and are used with permission" and include a link to the Sexual Assault & Violence Response (SAVR) resources web page.

 

The VAWA visa and immigration resource provided by SUNY is one of the many available on their SAVR resources web page. SUNY's policy is that response to sexual violence and related crimes is driven by the reporting victim/survivor. In creating their SUNY-wide website, they endeavored to make the resources in  their policies accessible to students and other members of the college community in the way that they access content, and not solely in handbooks and policy compilations.  In addition to every SUNY college developing its own website, they created a mobile site to serve as the landing spot for users to find information about resources on-campus, off-campus, near a campus, and anywhere in the state of New York. Visit SUNY's Sexual Violence Prevention Website Toolkit to read more about SUNY's process and access policy and technical information to create a sexual violence response resource website for your campus community.

Who's Hiring in Higher Ed?

 

 

Other education professionals, a category including biostatisticians, statisticians, data scientists, and data analysts, grew by 43%, with data analysts experiencing the largest subsegment growth ---- 282 reported positions in 2017 to 545 in 2018. Safety, which includes police and public safety, increased from 1,077 to 1,403 employees, an increase of 30%. The majority of other growth categories such as facilities, external affairs, and institutional technology saw an average increase of approximately 7%.

 

"It is not surprising that these are the positions seeing the greatest growth," says Jacqueline Bichsel, CUPA-HR's director of research. "Institutions continue to invest more in analytics for student success and strategic decision-making, so data analysts are in demand. And an increased media focus on sexual assaults and hazing incidents may underlie a need for a greater police presence on campus to respond to or prevent such incidents."

 

In a recent Chronicle of Education article highlighting the CUPA-HR survey findings, Steven J. Healy, the chief executive of Margolis Healy, noted that "for many, many years we kind of had this idea that 'Those things don't happen on our campuses. We are a learning environment. Everybody who is here on campus is 100% committed to the purpose and mission of the institution, and those bad things won't happen.' I think folks have now moved beyond that 'bad things can't happen.'"

This new thought process may also explain why Sue Riseling, executive director of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, suspects more growth is coming from two-year community colleges rather than four-year traditional IHEs, where growth is typically more stable. "It's probably the ones that are going from a handful [of safety officers] to a maybe 24/7 presence," said Riseling.

 

• June 26-28, 2018 in Rocky Mount, NC
• July 17-19, 2018 in Spokane, WA
• August 7-9, 2018 in Terre haute, IN

For additional trainings and events, access our searchable online calendar. 

Join Our Mailing List!