By Ellie Ruel and Emily Grab
Students should report misconduct as it happens, according to a safety panel hosted Tuesday by UAS Student Government and the Whalesong. Panelists included UAS Chancellor Aparna Palmer, Dean of Students Damian Medina, and representatives from Facilities, Housing, Health and Safety, Residence Life, Title IX, and the Juneau Police Department.
Questions were compiled from students and moderated by Whalesong Reporter Emily Grab and UAS Student Government President Lillian Thorington, who opened the panel with a land acknowledgment.
“We honor the relationships that exist between Lingít, X̱aadas, and Ts’msyen peoples and their sovereign relationships to their lands, their languages, their ancestors, and future generations. We aspire to work toward healing and liberation, recognizing our paths are intertwined in the complex histories of colonization in Alaska,” Thorington said.
DEI and Safety
The chancellor immediately addressed concerns over the University of Alaska Board of Regents’ recent motion to remove DEI language from university materials. She said diversity, equity, and inclusion remain integral to UAS.
“We will continue to provide an environment where people feel safe, where they feel included,” Palmer said.
Academic freedom and freedom of expression are not limited under the Board’s new policy, she said.
“Whether you’re an employee or whether you’re a student, you get to express your views, your perspectives, your needs in a responsible and respectful way,” Palmer noted.
Questions
Questions to the panel ranged from lighting solutions to reporting procedures. Student involvement was a prominent theme in panelists’ answers, with most inviting students to get involved.
In response to a question about how to report discrimination or harassment, UAS Title IX Coordinator Mitzi Bolaños Anderson stressed the importance of support for students and staff as her primary goal.
Anderson also said students can report misconduct to any responsible employee, including Resident Advisors (RA).
“Every employee is the right employee. All staff and faculty at UAS, except for confidential employees, are responsible employees and someone you can report to,” she said.
She said her office supports students dealing with Title IX issues, ranging from no-contact orders to academic assistance.
“For the most part, we do academic support, and so if folks maybe need some excused absences or an extension on an assignment in order to be able to navigate whatever it is that they’re going through during that time, we can facilitate that,” she said.
She emphasized student autonomy in the reporting process.
“Whether they want an investigation or not, we’re not gonna force that on them,” Anderson said. Students who choose to pursue a formal complaint can also receive assistance with filing a JPD report or other appropriate course of action.
Dean of Students Damien Medina said he tries to be active around campus and a “sounding board” for student voices when creating policy. Students can talk about issues less formally in his weekly in-person and virtual events, Dinner with Dean Damian, and Virtual Chats with Dean Damian.
Other options for student concerns include the Student Housing Advisory Committee and Green Dot Bystander training, which instructs students to safely intervene in high-risk situations to maximize campus safety.
“I think students struggle to report, maybe because there’s a lack of trust, but also because just the word report makes you feel like you’re immediately, you know, trying to get someone in trouble,” said Sean McCarthy, Director of Residence Life. “I really want us to change that culture on campus to students voicing their concerns.”
Medina added that informal conversations can also lead to solutions, as well as provide background if a situation escalates.
“Having a record that something occurred will help us because if in the future that same student or that same individual does a similar action in the future, we might now also have multiple situations where we now have a stronger case,” he said.
Juneau Police Deputy Chief Krag Campbell said the department can’t justify resources for the campus if they don’t get reports.
“In Juneau, we have limited resources, and everybody’s trying to get them from the police department,” he said.
If the department doesn’t receive reports or calls about on-campus criminal activity, they won’t send patrols here frequently, he said.
When students report to UAS staff, “that does allow us to say, ‘Hey, there are things out there that we need to be mindful of,’ whether it’s just daily patrols, or just keeping an eye on things a little better,” Campbell said
Mental Health
Outside physical safety, Chancellor Palmer encouraged students to use UAS mental health resources. She said Alaska legislators have told her they think mental health for students is a crisis, and students can advocate for funding.
“ I know that from hearing back from our legislature, they also heard that students really need support for mental health, and mental health is a basic need that I believe that everybody deserves to have, not just for our students, but our staff and faculty as well,” Palmer said.
Surveillance Systems
The safety panel also discussed cameras throughout campus and improving surveillance systems. Facilities Project Manager Jakob Kryman updated the progress of the project.
“We’re looking at about 30 in this initial outlay,” Kryman said. The cameras will be focused on entry and exit points to parking lots, housing, and lakeside buildings, as well as front desks and satellite buildings like Aak’w Ta Hít on Auke Bay.
Kryman said he would like to involve more students in the discussion on lighting.
“A lot of these camera concerns are very dry and really only relate to how many megapixels a camera is and how many pixels per square foot are visible in the end image,” he said. When it comes to fixtures that students interact with every day, though, Kryman wants to involve more student groups.
Watch the full panel here.
Resources:
Office of Rights, Compliance, and Accountability
JPD Non-Emergency Number: (907) 586-0600
WHALESONG 
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