To the Editor of The College Reporter & the entire F&M community:
I am writing in response to the anonymous letter published last week in The College Reporter. I want to thank the student for writing, as well as inform the community that we have taken action regarding the concerns she expressed. I want to express my regret to her for the difficult experience she had in applying for her leave of absence and her engagement with her dean and the College’s mandatory reporting responsibilities. To that end, we have made substantive changes to the College’s mandatory reporting form, have advised mandatory reporters of those changes, and reconfirmed mandatory reporter responsibilities through an email sent to FPS this past Friday.
I also want to assure the student and the community that the College has processes in place for those students applying for, or returning from, a personal or health-related leave that are sensitive to each individual’s particular circumstances. We will work to make sure we are communicating those processes more effectively when students are utilizing leaves of absence for personal or health-related reasons.
Again, I am grateful to the student for bringing these concerns forward.
Sincerely,
Dean Hazlett
Margaret Hazlett is the Dean of the College. Her email is mhazlett@fandm.edu.