VCOM Faculty Handbook

criminal activity on campus, please report these actions immediately.

Lost or stolen badges should be reported to Operations immediately so that they may be deactivated for security reasons. In the event a badge is lost, there will be a replacement fee (fees differ among campuses due to the source we acquire them from). Campus Safety Officers are always on-duty after normal business hours on evenings and weekends while the building is open to students and are available for general security and safety issues. Campus Safety Officers are available to escort students to their parked cars after dark if one feels the need for additional security. For assistance, please call the security number posted throughout the building or report to the front desk. The available Campus Safety Officer will also contact the local police if needed. In addition, in the event of an emergency, courtesy phones, which are located throughout the building, may be used to contact “911.” Fire Safety As part of VCOM’s fire safety procedures, students, faculty, and staff are provided with building evacuation maps. These are provided to all new employees upon hire and all first-year students at orientation. All students, faculty, and staff are also provided these maps annually. The evacuation maps show features of the building, including exits and stairway locations and outline the evacuation route that should be used by building occupants according to where they are in the building. Evacuation plans exist for all VCOM buildings. Faculty, staff, and students should review and be familiar with the evacuation plans. Fire alarms can be sounded for many different reasons including an actual fire, an intentional activation, an accident during cleaning, smoke or steam of any type, or a defective detector. VCOM also conducts periodic fire drills to ensure that all building occupants understand the emergency exit process. It is important to evacuate the building during a fire alarm regardless of the cause. No one may re-enter the building after an alarm until the "all clear" has been sounded by the operations staff in charge or by emergency personnel. In the event the fire alarm sounds, students shall proceed immediately to the nearest exit or stairwell leading to an exit to egress the building. Students, faculty, and staff should become familiar with the site-specific fire plans. Building occupants shall proceed at a walking (not running) pace and use caution to avoid injury to other persons when exiting. Building occupants should proceed to the designated outdoor safe zones and refrain from leaving until properly accounted for. Safety policies & procedures consisting of campus safety, fire and safety procedures, and VCOM building evacuation plan maps can be found on the VCOM website at: https://www.vcom.edu/faculty-and-staff/fire-and-safety policies-and-procedures Clery Crime Statistics Report and Clery Annual Safety Report The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, codified at 20 USC 1092 (f) (Clery Act) as a part of the Higher Education Act of 1965, is a federal law that requires colleges and universities to disclose annual information about campus crime. Each year, VCOM files a report with the United States Department of Education stating the incidences of crime on each VCOM campus. A Crime Log is kept by the Vice President for Operations and may be viewed upon request. The U.S. Department of Education’s report on campus safety for all VCOM campuses is available at: http://ope.ed.gov/campussafety/#/institution/search. For the past several years, VCOM has received an "A" rating with no significant crime problems. The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act and the United States Department of Education’s regulations require Title IV participating institutions to publish an Annual Security Report (ASR) every October 1st containing safety and security related policy statements and crime statistics. VCOM’s ASR for the past three years is published on its website at: https://www.vcom.edu/faculty-and-staff/fire-

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