Campus Safety Policies, Committees, and Statements

A catastrophic event is any particular incident, occurring naturally or man-made, that results in significant (a) loss of life, (b) damage or (c) operational disruption that impacts the population, infrastructure, economy or governmental functions. Catastrophic events include tornadoes, wars, terrorist attacks, global financial collapse, pandemics or other events that are outside the control of the university and have a material impact on the university’s operations.

Marywood University will mitigate the impact of crisis situations and operational disruptions and has procedures in place which provide for the continuity of operations in cases of a catastrophic event. The university’s goal is to minimize the length of time that students’ educational activities are disrupted and, when applicable, minimize the length of time that students, faculty, and staff are displaced.

Operational Systems

The university’s Information Technology Department ensures that backups of central production data exist in the event of system failure.  Information Technology identifies, configures and upgrades enterprise backup hardware, software and media to accomplish these backups. Information Technology provides for emergency operation of key production software systems in an alternate data center. Information Technology ensures key data is regularly backed up at an off-campus location. These procedures and systems prevent record destruction and/or data loss.

Procedures and Relevant Policies

The following procedures and policies are intended to mitigate the impact of disruptive events on University operations:

• Student Records – The University maintains its academic records in secure environments and has adequate measures in place to protect student records in the event of a disruptive event or closure.
• Refund Policies (such as Withdrawal and Refund Policies, Student Financial Responsibility Policy) - provide guidance for ensuring that financial refunds are processed timely and consistently in accordance with university policy, and applicable federal, state, and accreditation requirements.
• Emergency Evacuation Guidelines provides emergency instructions for faculty, staff, and students to ensure the safety and protection of individuals and property during emergencies. The university also has procedures for conducting financial transactions during an emergency.

Program Disruptions or Discontinuances

If the university cannot deliver instruction for which students have enrolled, the university is committed to one or more of the following courses of action, depending on the needs of the individual student:

• Provide a reasonable alternative for delivering instruction and/or services for which students have paid
• Provide a reasonable financial refund for the education students did not receive
• Provide assistance for transferring earned credits to other institutions

The university also has a ‘teach-out’ provision in the event that an academic program is discontinued.  This provision commits the university to providing reasonable opportunities to students to bring work already begun to its normal completion.

Approved by The President’s Cabinet on October 10, 2023