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Successful findings from the Office of Civil Rights Review (OCR)

On February 26-28, 2006 eight representatives from Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system conducted a three-day onsite Office of Civil Rights Review (OCR) to determine if our College complies with federal nondiscrimination laws. Findings from the College were the best the reviewers had seen, with corrections needed in only four out of thirty areas.

Federal and state laws require that all colleges and universities who receive federal Perkins funding must undergo an Office of Civil Rights Review (OCR) once every five to ten years to ensure compliance with nondiscrimination laws Title IX, Title IV, Title VI and ADA Section 504. The reviewers found that faculty were very involved with their students and complimented the College on the organization of its materials, saying that Saint Paul College had one of the best reviews the committee had seen. Special thanks go to all members of the Management Team, and to the staff, faculty, administrators and students who took the time out of their busy days to be interviewed, participate or prepare for onsite events and to ensure that materials complied with federal law. Additional thanks go to the urgent, critical, last minute changes by June Schifsky for policy edits, Pam Allen for document upgrades and photo shoots, Katie Yep for data dumps, Kelly Rooke for Web site revisions, Matthew Martin for the OCR room and Tony Taylor for the data summaries and PowerPoint assistance. Clearly this was College-wide effort and the findings would not have been favorable without all of your assistance. Thank you!

Contributor: Margie Tomsic