Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to update you on a couple important items. First, after reviewing input from the first phase of our strategic planning process and meeting with members of the Cabinet and colleagues from across campus, I have decided to create an administrative advisory board. The President’s Administrative Advisory Board (PAAB) will serve in an advisory capacity to me and provide a forum for thoughtful interaction, information sharing, and improved communication among administrative divisions, departments and other College constituencies. This group will be tasked with identifying, reviewing and making recommendations to the leadership team on improvement of business and administrative processes, with a particular focus on those requiring collaboration across divisions and departments. This will also be a group to which the leadership team can solicit feedback on proposals.
The PAAB will be made up of all direct reports to the President (other than those on the Executive Team), and all senior direct reports of the Executive Team members. An Executive Committee of the PAAB will include a minimum of one representative from each division. The standing members of the Executive Committee will be the Chief Human Resources Officer, General Counsel, Speaker of the Faculty and Vice Provost for Diversity Equity and Inclusion.
The PAAB will replace the President’s Cabinet and Extended Leadership Team.
Second, I want to let you know that the committee that will oversee the comprehensive investigation into faculty sexual misconduct that was approved by the Board of Trustees in May has been established. The Comprehensive Investigation Oversight Committee (CIOC) began meeting in late September and has begun the process of identifying potential independent investigators. The investigator shall be retained by the College and will report to the Board Chair, the CIOC and me. The CIOC is composed of two trustees selected by the Board Chair, two tenured faculty members selected by the Academic Governance Council, and two administrators selected by me as President. The CIOC will be led by Attorney Michael E. Baughman of Troutman Pepper. Serving on the CIOC are:
- Nancy E. Andrews Ph.D, Associate Professor, Classics; Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies
- Nancy R. Baldiga Ph.D, Professor, Economics and Accounting
- J. Christopher Collins, Esq. ’80, Member of the Board of Trustees; Of Counsel, Mirick O’Connell
- Michele C. Murray Ph.D, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
- Donna Murphy O’Brien ’77, Member of the Board of Trustees; President, Strategic Visions in Healthcare
- Daniel P. Ricciardi ’06, Assistant Treasurer
The safety of our students is of fundamental importance at Holy Cross. Excellent work has been done in the past few years to strengthen the College’s Sexual Misconduct Policy, to provide training to faculty, staff and students around sexual misconduct and to rebuild the Office of Title IX and Equal Opportunity with experienced leadership and resources. This investigation will help us identify additional opportunities to strengthen protections for our entire community.
I look forward to the work of both of these groups in the coming year.
Sincerely,
Vincent D. Rougeau
President