Finlandia responds to criticism about student conduct investigation – Part I

HANCOCK — Finlandia University has come under criticism recently regarding its handling of a string of student conduct issues. ABC 10’s Keweenaw Bureau Reporter Rick Allen sat down with one school official for a response to that criticism in the first of a two part series.

Finlandia University has a long standing reputation in the community for providing a quality education, especially in the fields of nursing, business and the arts.

Recently, a rash of student conduct issues has taken the focus from education, and in some people’s minds, earning the school a different reputation entirely.

School policy prohibits officials from discussing any details regarding individual students, but one school official was able to talk about their response in the wake of these issues. Finlandia is currently conducting an internal investigation, which they do whenever there is a report of a breach of their code of conduct.

Finlandia’s Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Fredi De Yampert said, “We will sometimes, following policy, place students on an interim suspension while we conduct a more lengthy investigation. Again, whatever we do, we follow the conduct policy and we interview all parties involved.”

At the end of the investigation, the university determines what actions they take.

Finlandia also takes a look in the mirror…to see if they could have done anything different.

De Yampert said, “When situations arise, we conduct what we call a debriefing, where we all sit down together. We review what actions and steps and policy procedures worked very well and what policies and procedures didn’t work quite as well as we would have liked, and how we can make them better.”

Finlandia expects to conclude its internal investigation on Friday.