A Kennesaw State University student has finally gotten an apology after a student adviser accused him of harassment merely for sitting and waiting for a chance to speak to his own adviser, 11 Alive reports.
Kevin Bruce tweeted out his encounter with student adviser Abbie Dawson, who berated him for harassing his academic adviser, even though he was calmly and quietly waiting for an opportunity to speak.
“Sitting here until someone is available is harassing them,” Dawson insisted to Bruce during the interaction, which occurred in early May. “Would you like for me to call campus security?”
Since then, KSU had been conducting a review. The school placed Dawson on administrative leave the day after the incident while the review was pending.
Having completed the review, KSU revealed that Dawson has been handed a formal written warning and will not be allowed to advise students until she completes sensitivity training to demonstrate “the ability to be sensitive to students and their needs,” the news station reports.
“We have made it very clear to Ms. Dawson and her supervisors that the behavior she demonstrated on the video will not be tolerated; and while we have apologized to the student directly, we also want to publicly apologize for her behavior, which is not representative of KSU’s student-centered culture,” Ken Harmon, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said, according to 11 Alive. “While we in no way condone Ms. Dawson’s actions, we also acknowledge that we need to make some changes in our advising structure to provide more training and support for our staff so that they are better equipped to help our students navigate their college experience.”
The university also promised to make changes to improve its advisement polices, including student service, diversity and cross-training for all advisers, and also improving the adviser-to-student ratio.
Read more at 11 Alive.