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YSU’s workplace violence policy is modified
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State University modified a workplace violence policy pending the trustees’ approval.
This policy change comes months after YSU assistant football coach Richard McNutt, co-defensive coordinator, was given a five-day suspension following an internal investigation.
The investigation revealed McNutt violated no university policy after being accused of a domestic- violence incident in April, a report from the university concluded.
The university made promises to review the policy for possible changes.
On Wednesday, the policy was “modified to include workplace and off-campus violence, threats and disruptive behavior as it pertains to faculty, staff and students,” the policy modification reads. “...A section on appropriate reporting to the chief human resources officer by university employees involved in a crime as a perpetrator have been added. Language has also been added to include a section on protection orders. The policy has also expanded the section on consequences.”
“We looked at this policy pretty in-depth,” said Holly Jacobs, legal affairs vice president. “We made it clear that it addresses off-campus violence, threats and disruptive behavior ... We also added a section requiring employees to disclose if they’ve been identified as a perpetrator in a police report, criminally charged with, arrested for, criminally convicted of, or sentenced for a crime involving violence – family and relationship violence, stalking, menacing, intimidation or possession of a deadly weapon. We are requiring that they inform the chief human resources officer within seven days of that event.”
That will allow university officials to know about the incident without having to find out about it in a newspaper or through other means, Jacobs added.
Some added language reads that YSU is committed “to helping students and employees avoid the use of violence, threats or similar behavior in any context” and “to promote a safe environment that assures an appropriate and prompt response to workplace or campus violence or the threat of violence and provide assistance to and hold employees and students who are perpetrators of threats, violence and abusive behavior accountable for their behavior.”