Dear Colleague,

This weekend our country experienced firsthand another horrific response against our core democratic values of justice and equality. The escalation and violence of white supremacists, left not only the community of Charlottesville, Virginia, and our nation grief stricken, but has shaken our confidence in the ability to protest without the loss of life or human dignity. Colleges are targeted by such hate groups because our very mission is dedicated to exploring and debating controversial ideas. Unfortunately, what we saw this weekend was not just about exercising the right of free speech and the right to bear arms, but promoting hatred and violence.

At Shoreline, we have taken dramatic steps to uphold our deeply held values of respect, inclusion, and student engagement. Our Shoreline Community College Community Standard reflects a process that we engaged in winter and spring 2015 and captures in words the values that are reflected on our campus. Drawing on our Community Standard, we took the following actions in the last academic year:

• We created a #YouAreWelcomeHere video and are sharing it on social media and in various venues across campus.

• We have #YouAreWelcomeHere t-shirts and buttons for sale in the bookstore ($5 per t-shirt, $1 per button). We encourage employees and students to wear their #YouAreWelcomeHere t-shirts and buttons each Wednesday, as well as general Shoreline gear you may have, to show we care about each other and our collective values of respect, inclusion, and student engagement.

• There is a Community Standard response protocol in place to address any acts of intolerance if they unfold on campus.

• We offered bystander training to the administrative team, classified staff, and faculty so we can better respond if we hear or see someone taking actions that are contrary to our Community Standard.

• We held interactive conversations on the value of Free Speech and joined the Margin to Center series put on by the Office of Student Life to continue being in dialogue about these important issues confronting our nation and college community.

Just a reminder, if you see and/or experience an incident that needs to be reported, you can follow the steps below:

• Alert Safety and Security (or law enforcement if needed)
• Report the incident to the Community Standard email box we have established: communitystandard@shoreline.edu
• Share the incident with your supervisor

As we prepare for the 2017-18 academic year, we will continue to look for ways to share our ideas on respectful actions we can take to better serve and support our students and each other.

Respectfully,
Cheryl

Cheryl Roberts, Ed.D.
President

Dear Colleague,

As we look ahead to and through the fall quarter, here is information related to the College’s winter closure in December 2017.

• All offices on campus will be closed from Tuesday, December 26, 2017 – Friday, December 29, 2017 in observance of the winter holiday break and no services will be available to the public during this period.
• Administrative/Exempt and Classified personnel are to utilize leave hours for December 26, 27, 28 & 29, 2017.
• “Overtime-eligible full-time classified employees will be offered the opportunity to work and earn hours of compensatory time equivalent to the time to offset the campus closure from December 26, 2017 – December 29, 2017.”*  (Shoreline Community College and Washington Federation of State Employees Memorandum of Understanding • Winter Break 2017 Campus Closure)
• “Classified employees working less than full-time will be offered the opportunity to earn compensatory time on the same proportional basis their appointment bears to full-time.”*  (Shoreline Community College and Washington Federation of State Employees Memorandum of Understanding • Winter Break 2017 Campus Closure)

*Classified employees should take advantage of professional learning opportunities that will be offered in order to earn compensatory time for the winter closure. Additional information on these opportunities is forthcoming.

Please note that during the winter closure:
• The campus will continue to be patrolled by Safety and Security personnel.
• Only employees working on pre-approved essential projects will be on campus.

The College will reopen on Tuesday, January 2, 2018, following observance of the New Year’s Day holiday.  Winter quarter classes will begin Monday, January 8, 2018.

Thank you,
Cheryl Roberts, Ed.D.