The Office of the Dean of Student Affairs hired briana Sevigny in July to fill the position of director of community standards, formerly held by Associate Dean of Student Affairs Kevin Kraft. Prior to beginning her career at Tufts, Sevigny worked at Northeastern University.
According to the Student Affairs website, Sevigny has worked in the field of education since 2003 and has served in various departments related to student conduct and residential life at institutions including Johnson & Wales University, Assumption College and Eastern Connecticut State University, in addition to Northeastern.
At Northeastern, Sevigny was the director of the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution.
“[briana] led a large and complex conduct system and directed the resolution of thousands of cases annually on all of Northeastern’s domestic and international campuses,” Kraft wrote in an email to the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs in July.
Sevigny said she applied for the director of community standards position in part due to the university's efforts to foster social justice initiatives.
“[I] knew a lot about the Tufts community from friends and colleagues who have worked here, as well as friends and family members who have attended Tufts, and really liked that social justice mindedness,” Sevigny said in an interview with the Daily.
According to Kraft, Sevigny is committed to this kind of social justice and advocacy work.
“In pursuit of this commitment, [Sevigny] has facilitated class sessions on women’s leadership, presented at the national NASPA Multicultural Institute, been active in LGBTQ student support, and [in June], she was a panelist in a NASPA Lessons Learned event on navigating race, identity, and positionality in higher education,” Kraft said.
Sevigny explained that she would like to use her experience to ensure the conduct resolution process at Tufts remains equitable for all students.
“[I am focusing on] how we can ensure that our process is fair to students, no matter who they are, and is equitable in responsible ways, so that we’re not holding any sort of student accountable in a different fashion because of who they are or where they come from,” Sevigny said.
In her role, Sevigny will lead the Office of Community Standards, collaborating closely with students, faculty and staff, and work with the Division of Student Affairs.
“As Director of Community Standards, briana leads the office that is responsible for publishing the Student Code of Conduct ... resolving reports that a student has violated university policy, and providing proactive education to the community about living and working together in community,” Kraft wrote in an email to the Daily.
The process that selected Sevigny involved all members of the Tufts community.
“A search committee composed of students, faculty, and staff reviewed resumes, conducted the initial screening, and selected finalists," Kraft said. "All finalists were invited to campus and participated in a rigorous day-long process.”
Kraft highlighted the importance of student input in the selection process.
“During the interview day, each candidate met over 25 members of the Tufts community in small group settings,” Kraft said. “Student input was highly important in this search ... many students participated in various interviews throughout the day and ate meals with the candidates.”
Sevigny said she is working to ensure students can continue to have an engaging college education, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Tufts is always really committed to helping students have an engaged experience, and I don’t think that has actually changed,” Sevigny said. “It just requires us to be a little bit more creative … that's one aspect of what we want to accomplish this semester, is just to make sure that our students have what they need to respond to the concerns that they’re sharing with us."
