Transcription
Greetings everyone. My name is Britney Plasana. My pronouns are she/her and I am the Director of Student Success and Belonging in the Office of Student Engagement, or OSC. I have a role in supporting you all during the new member education process, or NME.
One of the things that I want to open up about is that we use new member education and new member educator interchangeably, so you'll hear me say NME a few times because I'm either referring to one or the other. We also refer to the new member educators as PMs, and so I will try to use both.
Hopefully, throughout this video, we're going to do our very best to prepare you for this process. We're so excited that you're interested in joining our historic societies. They have such a strong legacy, huge active alumni, and so many beautiful things that I hope you will immerse yourself in and engage in during this process.
As that's mentioned, I want to mention some of what we constitute as our societies and our community. I like to use "society life" a lot, and I think that kind of means that there's a different space, place, and history associated with our societies.
We use ISC for the Inter-Society Council. The ISC is a governing extension of ASWC Senate, or the Associated Students of Whittier College, which is our student government. We have a representative from each society who meets and helps govern the operations and logistics for societies, but also do some very fun events that hopefully you'll get to be a part of as actives.
Maybe you'll be able to practice leadership, which is one of the pillars of society life. Whether you become an ISC rep or an e-board member for your club or committee lead, there is a lot that societies teach us, not just while we're in college, but after. I think that's part of their beauty, so I'm so excited that you're in this process.
For each of you, one of the things I like to start with is encouraging you all to look over your new member education handbook. The NME handbook has your rights and responsibilities, and that's what I want to focus on right now. It also includes a lot of helpful information for this process, including important dates, resources, and links to forms.
I like to encourage you all to see yourselves as not just participants of this process, but also voices of this process. Each of you can advocate for yourself, speak forward, and ask questions. You all have the right to make this process as transparent and inclusive as possible, but we also put that onus on your PMs or new member educators.
They should be upholding your rights and responsibilities throughout this process. You have the right to be fully informed about all recruitment and new member education activities. There should be nothing that's withheld from you, nothing that you missed out on because it wasn't shared with you.
You have the right to be treated with respect and dignity at all times, to be treated as an individual, to ask questions and receive honest answers, to have a positive, safe, and enriching environment at all times and in all places.
You have the right to engage in a way that does not interfere with your academic process or academic success, the right to withdraw at any time without any consequences or retaliation from any society or any member who's also trying to join that society, the right to engage in an alcohol-free and drug-free new member education process, the right to not feel pressured or engage in activities that violate college policies, and the right to join an organization whose values align with your own personal values.
Alumni also have a role in making sure that they are honoring your rights and responsibilities. I'll go over a little bit later what to do if you feel like your rights and responsibilities aren't being honored, but it's all very similar. We have different reporting processes and forms. Our hope is that it's more clear and directive as opposed to challenging and vague to understand.
One of the things that I'll focus on today are what I think are our needed forms. One of them is our Title IX form. The Title IX policy you all have been exposed to since your orientation experience. I try to focus a little bit less on the sexual misconduct, though that is an important element of it, and a little bit more on the protected categories and how I can see some examples of that in this process.
This applies to all students because we receive federal funding. It's important that we be compliant with Title IX and that your PMs and new member educators are also compliant. As I mentioned, the protected categories include all gender identities and gender expressions, members of LGBTQIA+ communities, all races, religions, and ethnicities, all physical and mental abilities, and it's regardless of citizenship status.
So when I think about the new member education process and Title IX or our protected categories, I think, you know, because a society has historically had perhaps a dominant gender expression, it does not mean that a prospective member has to uphold and/or honor that in any physical forms.
For example, if historically somebody were dressed to a certain function or a certain event, but if somebody doesn't feel comfortable and wants to wear a suit or pants instead, they should not be forced or pressured to wear that dress. They should feel free, liberated, and safe to wear the pants and/or the suit or some other version. I'm just trying to paint an example for you all.
Religious accommodations and flexibility are important. It is not okay for somebody to dismiss you from this process because you have a request for religious-related exemptions or you're requiring flexibility and adaptability because of your religious practices or services. If there's conflict, they should be as accommodating and flexible as possible without treating you differently, making you feel different, or excluding you from any vital and informative parts of this process.
Hopefully, you all are getting the idea for our other protected categories. If you see something, it's important that you say something. One of the ways that we encourage you all to intervene is to be an upstander as opposed to a bystander.
For example, if it doesn't happen to you but it's happening to somebody next to you, where they're the ones being forced or coerced to do something that they're not comfortable with because it's part of that protected category, then you can report Title IX or encourage them to report it too.
Within the Title IX form, we always encourage you all to intervene when it is safe, the context makes sense, and it does not expose or put you at risk. One of the ways that you can do this is by documenting it and trying to be as direct as possible.
Since I mentioned that report form, it lives in a few places. This is on the quiz, so I hope that you all are paying attention. It lives on the Whittier College website, in the new member education handbook, but also in the email that I send you all with the NME handbook and also with some other reminders and resource links.
Our Title IX process, hopefully, you will have some information on from previous coursework and/or orientation, but that is all outlined on the Whittier College website along with more information about Title IX in terms of the reporting process.
All staff and faculty are considered mandated reporters, so if you tell or share with any one of us, we are required to submit a Title IX report. That does not necessarily spur different things; I think it depends on what is in that report. The person who can best answer some of those questions is our Title IX coordinator, McK B. Morad, whose information is on that website.
Then there's a confidential resource, which is our Student Health and Counseling Center. We don't want anyone to ever think that just because they submitted something or they say something that that exposes somebody at risk or an entire organization at risk. It is helpful for us to be compliant with federal law, but also it is helpful for us to intervene and/or move forward as appropriate.
So getting the report does not necessarily mean that a process will move forward; it really depends on how our Title IX coordinator looks into it and is able to move forward.
Hazing is something that is super important that we address as part of this process. I think it's helpful for you all to understand that there are three different forms of hazing. I'm also going to review some state law as well as it relates to hazing and our Whittier College language around hazing. This is also available in your Whittier College website and new member education handbook.
All forms of hazing are considered important to prevent and not have as part of this process. One of the things that we've done to be compliant with both state law and Whittier College law is require and/or prohibit some activities.
We don't allow sleepovers or overnights. We don't allow underground pledging, which means that each new member educator has to tell us what is in the educational plan, so they're not allowed to do something that's not in that educational plan.
They're not allowed and should have an alcohol-free NME process. We also meet with and train your new member educators as a reminder of what constitutes hazing, what's within the law, and what are some of the best ways to create a safe process as much as possible.
So trying to make sure that we're not doing some of the activities that I'll outline later as examples. If you suspect hazing, are not sure if it's hazing, and want to discuss it with me, my door is always open. I will prioritize that as part of this process.
It doesn't matter if it's early, late, or the weekend; I will do my absolute best to meet you and be there to support you during this process, especially if it involves hazing or Title IX. Please know that you all have me as a resource, and it is super important to me that I support you and be a guide to you.
The Hazing Report Form helps because it also has an element of anonymity. It's not necessarily the same as confidential, but it is similar in the sense that there are some protections that are given to the person who makes the report to encourage you all as much as possible to report.
There are some changes to hazing law that went into effect December 24th, 2024. It gives a more expansive definition of hazing in the Stop Campus Hazing Act. There should not be any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a person against another person or persons, regardless of the willingness of such other person or persons to participate, that is committed in the course of initiation, affiliation, or maintenance of membership into a student organization.
This is something that can cause risk or have reasonable risk associated with their participation. Some examples are whipping, beating, striking, electronic shocking, placing a harmful substance on somebody's body, or similar activity, causing coercion, or otherwise including sleep deprivation, exposure to alcohol, consuming food, liquor, alcohol, drugs, or other substances, or causing somebody to perform sexual acts.
Hazing is also defined by any activity that places another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through threatening words or conduct, any activity that includes a criminal violation of local, state, tribal, or federal law, and any activity that induces, causes, or requires another person to perform a duty or task that involves a criminal violation of local, state, tribal, or federal law.
One of the things that I think sometimes this language isn't necessarily as clear, so I like to give some different examples within some of the categories of hazing that we outline, which are subtle harassment and violent forms of hazing.
Subtle forms of hazing examples include demeaning names, socially isolating members, having silent periods, requiring lineup drills, lineup drills or meaningless information tests, expecting certain items to always be in somebody's possession, deprivation of privileges that are granted to other members, name-calling, and requiring new members to perform duties not assigned to other members.
Some harassment hazing examples include verbal abuse, threats or implied threats, asking somebody to wear embarrassing or humiliating attire, having a stunt or skit night with degrading, crude, or humiliating acts, expecting new members to perform a professional service to active members, sleep deprivation, and expecting new members to be deprived of a normal schedule of daily cleanliness.
Violent hazing examples include forced or coerced alcohol or drug consumption, beating, paddling, or other forms of assault, branding, burning, water intoxication, public nudity, bondage, abduction or kidnapping, illegal activity, and exposure to extreme weather conditions.
What we do as our form of hazing prevention is asking very critical questions of your alumni, your society leads, and your new member educator. We encourage them to be as inclusive and accessible as possible with all activities and trying to alter them and/or pivot them so that there are no suspicions of hazing and that there are no forms of hazing.
We ask, you know, is this something that you would feel comfortable doing? Is this something that you would feel comfortable doing in front of a parent, in front of a loved one, in front of a significant other, perhaps somebody who looks up to you?
Asking critical questions on would this cause somebody else to feel shame? Is there sometimes a stretch of vulnerability? There's some vulnerability as well in this process, but when that gets stretched, does that cause intimidation or does that cause humiliation?
Would everybody from whatever background see this experience the same? Would they see it differently? What are the risks associated? Is this something that you wouldn't have any reservation doing in front of a college official?
When we ask these critical questions of them, we're also mentioning them to you because these are questions for you to consider as well. If you think, "Oh, I don't want anybody else to go through this; this isn't fair for anybody to go through this," maybe that's a flag. Maybe that's a sign that this isn't something that should be happening.
We want to encourage you to either have a conversation with me, submit the Hazing Report Form, or just ask, "Is this normal? Is this not normal? Is this something I should have said no to? Could I say no to?"
Of course, the other thing we're always going to invite you all to do is to be advocates. See this process as yours and what you can do to make sure that it's safe for those around you. Always ask critical questions because you have the right to get honest answers.
We're hoping that you being able to better understand things will also help you navigate this process with ease and as much comfort and inclusion as possible. The Hazing Report Form is accessible on our Whittier College website, in your NME handbook, and also in the email that you get.
If you are not able to find it, you can also ask your new member educator or myself. That might be the best way to go for that.
To transition to some extended rights and responsibilities for you that are in your NME handbook, you should not have any commitment of your time during the new member education process outside of the specific time frame.
Monday through Thursday, there shouldn't be anything before 7:00 a.m. or after 10:00 p.m. Friday through Saturday, anything before 9:00 a.m. and after midnight. For Sunday, there should be no NME activity on any given day.
Monday through Thursday, there shouldn't be any NME activity that takes 3 hours or more total for the week. Monday through Saturday, you should have 15 hours of weekly NME activities. Again, your academic success is important, and so we are also going to go over time management with the goal of making sure that you're staying on top of your assignments and any of your academic processes.
We also do this by requiring study logs to be turned in at the end of each week. This is a reminder that for all off-campus events, you submit a waiver. If your new member educator isn't reminding you, hopefully, you're reminding your class to do that.
There are important dates for you in the new member education handbook. This video is accompanied by a quiz, so please make sure that you do the quiz by midnight on January 30.
Cohort acceptance is January 31 at 6:00 p.m. for any prospective members of the Ionian, Athenian, Metapan, Palmer, and Daens. Convocation is November 2 at 6:00 p.m. I look forward to that day. I look forward to celebrating each of you, to seeing you all not just start this process but also finish it, to seeing our societies grow in their diversity.
You all have some, I'm sure, creative strengths, some talents, some skills that are just going to better society life. I'm so excited that each of you is here in this process, doing the work to become a part of a historical group at Whittier, but also a very supportive and well-resourced network.
I'm so in awe of each of you during this time, and from that, I want to just affirm and encourage you all that I'm manifesting as much peace, joy, and learning during the process.
In that, I want to give you all as many time management tips as possible. One of my personal ones that I love is the Pomodoro Timer on YouTube. I'll use a different one depending on my assignment that I'm working on, so that I stay focused and try to eliminate distraction.
Because there's a different demand on my time, I'm utilizing the time that I do have to the best of my ability. I think that that's always something to help me make sure that I'm focusing on what's urgent and important and trying to get ahead of it.
If I know that I'm going to have a busy weekend ahead, I can try to make sure that the time that I do have to sit down and get ahead of some assignments, I'm using well.
Being as communicative as possible with your loved ones, your family members, your friends, and your fellow classmates that this will be a different time for you. Not just necessarily asking for grace, but communicating what it's going to look like for you during this time and trying to eliminate stress as much as possible or have them be resources and guides for you to have some healthy habits and practice self-care.
You have a lot of resources available to you. I am one, so if you want to get together and help organize your planner, share some resources on how to make some better and more efficient decisions, you also have those within your society.
I'm sure that you'll have some really great ideas and creative ideas on how to manage your time. Thank you all. I want to remind you about the quiz. I look forward to seeing and meeting all of you very soon, and I want to thank you all for being not just participants in this process, but also agents in this process and advocates for this process.
Thank you all very much. Bye-bye.