Effective Jan. 1, 2017, all UC Merced employees, including administrators, staff, faculty, other academic appointees including graduate student employees, fellows and visiting scholars, and non-affiliates (individuals present in the workplace that are not employees, such as vendors, contractors and volunteers) are subject to this policy, which expressly prohibits abusive conduct in the workplace.
On July 26, 2016, President Napolitano issued guidance regarding the University’s expectations and commitment to providing a safe, supportive, responsive and equitable environment for all members of the campus community. Effective Jan. 1, 2015, the State of California adopted a definition of “abusive conduct” and required that all employees participate in training about abusive conduct as part of their regular sexual harassment training. This new policy was enacted to address both acts and threats of violence and abusive conduct in the workplace, and replaces existing UC Merced Policy 757.
Under this new policy, all UC Merced employees are required to report acts of violence witnessed in the workplace and are encouraged to report threats of violence or other behavior that they reasonably believe could lead to an act of violence in the workplace. All employees are encouraged to report abusive conduct in the workplace. Supervisors, managers and administrators are required to report abusive conduct, even if it does not rise to the level of a threat or act of violence.
UC Merced student behavior, including the conduct of student employees, is covered under the UC Merced Code of Student Conduct and is addressed by the Office of Student Conduct; however, students may also report abusive conduct by university employees and non-affiliates under this policy.
The new policy is posted on the New and Updated Policies and Procedures section of the UC Merced Office of Campus Climate and Compliance website.
A list of Frequently Asked Questions and Answers can be found in the Appendix of the policy.
For questions regarding the policy, contact Luanna Putney, Associate Chancellor and Campus Ethics and Compliance Officer, at lputney@ucmerced.edu or 209-228-2407; or De Acker, Director of Campus Climate, at dacker@umcerced.edu or 209-228-2598.
