Death of a Student or Employee

Policy 2.60 · Adopted 1999 · Last revised 2023 · Responsible office: Office of the President · Next review 2028

Notification

Notification of a death is reported to the Office of the President, ext. 2201, or to Campus Safety at any hour. The College does not notify next of kin; that is the responsibility of law enforcement or a coroner. The College does not confirm a death to any inquirer, including media, until notification of next of kin has been confirmed by the notifying authority.

The President, or the President’s designee, contacts the family within one business day of confirmation, and asks two questions: what the family wishes the College community to be told, and whether the family wishes the College to have any role in services. The family’s answers govern. If the family asks that nothing be said, nothing is said.

Immediate steps

1. Campus Safety secures the individual’s assigned space, locker, tools, and, in the case of an animal-assigned student, arranges care of the assigned animal that day.
2. Instructors are informed before students are, and are told what may be said.
3. Counseling is made available on site through the College’s contracted provider, without appointment, for as long as the Dean of Students judges necessary.
4. Records are flagged so that no automated communication — registration reminders, balance notices, DroverAlert messages, appeal deadlines — is generated to the individual or the family. This step is completed within 24 hours and is the failure most likely to injure a family.
5. The flag at the Corliss Pike entrance is lowered to half-staff for three instructional days on the death of an enrolled student or a current employee, and on the day of services for a retiree or emeritus faculty member.

Academic and financial matters

The term’s tuition and fees are refunded in full to the estate, without proration and without application. Grades are recorded as withdrawn without penalty. A posthumous award of a credential completed but not conferred is made on the Provost’s determination, presented to the family, and read at the next commencement with the family’s consent. An outstanding balance is written off and is not referred to collection.

Belongings

Personal belongings are inventoried by Campus Safety with a second employee present, and released to the person authorized by the estate. Belongings are held six months. Tools and kits are the individual’s property and are released with everything else, notwithstanding any program inventory practice.

Memorial

The College does not establish memorials, plaques, scholarships, or named spaces at the time of a death. Requests are received and are considered by the Foundation after one year, which the College explains at the time as a practice rather than a refusal. A memorial gift to an existing fund may be made at any time.

The Division of Funerary and Interment Services does not participate in arrangements for a member of the College community except at the family’s request, made to the family’s own funeral director, and never at the College’s suggestion.