Kennesaw State University (KSU) will temporarily relieve Abby Dawson of her academic advising responsibilities as a result of her accusing a student of harassment.
The school announced Dawson's punishment alongside new guidelines to improve their overall advisement to the student body, the Huffington Post reported. The improvements focus mainly on the Department of Exercise Science and Sport Management, which had fielded similar complaints in the past.
A KSU student named Kevin Bruce recorded a video of his interaction with Dawson in mid-May, contending all he was doing was waiting to see his adviser. In addition to the video, Bruce posted emails to Twitter showing difficulty he experienced in meeting with his adviser. In the video, which ended up going viral, Dawson accused Bruce of harassment for showing up for a meeting and refusing to reschedule.
"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 at KSU, said in a statement. "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."
KSU placed Dawson on administrative leave and are now suspending her advisement duties on a temporary basis. The said its investigation into the matter took two weeks and involved interviews with 13 students and faculty.
"Our goal is to become a leader in the area of academic advisement. The bottom line is that we need to do a better job and, while we have some work to do, we want to be a national model," Harmon said. "Already we have identified ways to improve our advising operations and ability to meet students' individual needs so that we are doing everything possible to help them succeed in college and beyond."
