Student Death Procedures

University Procedures in Response to a Student Death

Updated: March 2023

Purpose

Cal Poly strives to foster a culture of compassion and care, promoting safety and well-being for every member of our community. When a student passes away, it is incumbent upon the university to respond in a sensitive and caring manner, recognizing that individuals respond to death in different ways. These guidelines are designed to help university members respond to a student death in a supportive and consistent manner, while retaining flexibility to meet the needs in individual situations.

The Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs (VPSA Office) serves as the university contact to immediately inform the appropriate university contacts following the event of a student death. The Vice President for Student Affairs designates the Dean of Students (DOS) to serve as the primary campus contact for the family or next of kin of the deceased student to support them through this process. It is incumbent that university departments uphold procedures and update the VPSA Office should changes occur.

The procedures outlined delineate the roles and responsibilities that should be assumed by individual administrators, staff, faculty, students, and various campus departments following the notification of the death of a currently enrolled student.

Procedures to Follow in the Event of a Reported Student Death

Cal Poly Police Department will:

• Confirm the student's death, document details surrounding the death, and verify that the family has been provided with notification of the death by the County Coroner or other government official.
• When CPPD is the first to respond, CPPD will immediately contact the Vice President for Student Affairs or their designee, and University Communications and Marketing (UCM) leadership. The Vice President for Student Affairs or designee will notify university leadership, including the President and appropriate college Dean.
• A police officer will respond and oversee the scene of the incident until all appropriate actions have been taken, including the consultation with the County Coroner’s Office.
• To prevent miscommunications, we ask that members of the campus community not independently contact the next of kin or emergency contact until the Coroner’s Office has made their death notification to them first.

Office of the Dean of Students will:

• Contact the family, either in person or by phone, within 24 hours after CPPD has confirmed that the family has received official notification of the death. This information will be provided to the VPSA Office via e-mail.
• Ask the family or next of kin if they wish to share information with Cal Poly, such as memorial plans and executorship of the student's estate.
• Confirm if family has given permission for the President to make a condolence call; relay the information to the President’s Office and VPSA Executive Associate
• Be the point of contact for communicating with next of kin, executor, and/or family members and for approving any additional condolence letters on behalf of Cal Poly (other than the letter from the vice president for student affairs).
• Serve as the primary campus contact for the family of the deceased student and meet with family members, should they decide to come to campus. This may include coordinating with campus departments to ensure personal belongings are handled as directed by the executor of the student’s estate.
• Offer to make hotel arrangements and/or reimburse up to three days lodging for the deceased student’s parents, should the need arise.
• Serve as campus coordinator for all necessary follow-up with the student community. Work with faculty and staff to ensure that potentially affected students will have access to the appropriate resources and coordinate with appropriate campus offices such as Counseling Services, campus religious affiliates, and colleges in making referrals and contacts.
• Coordinate with Counseling Services to provide support to the impacted individuals or groups and campus at large, as needed.
• Work with university partners, in consultation with ASI leaders, to coordinate assistance with those who wish to hold a memorial service on campus for the deceased student.
• Consult with Campus Counsel and Risk Management as needed.

VPSA Office will:

• Prepare and send the official student death bulletin via e-mail to members of executive leadership for their situational awareness and select university department personnel contacts that have administrative actions related to this process, as outlined in the procedures of this document.
• Prepare and send the campuswide announcement on behalf of the President and Vice President for Student Affairs.
• Send a condolence letter to the family at the discretion of, and on behalf of, the Vice President for Student Affairs.
• In their discretion, provide any in memoriam outreach on behalf of the University as deemed appropriate. This may include hosting a memorial service and sending flowers.  Alternately, arrange for a donation on behalf of the University in lieu of flowers.
• Maintain updated campus procedures related to this topic.

Procedures Following Receipt of Student Death Bulletin

Office of the Registrar will:

• Code student academic record as “Deceased” in the PeopleSoft Student Administration System (hereinafter referred to as “PeopleSoft”).
• If applicable, withdraw student from current term and drop student from future terms.
• If it is the end of a term, contact the student’s instructors to find out if they will be assigning grades.
• If the student is close to graduating, determine if a degree is about to be posted or if the deceased is eligible for a posthumous degree. If a degree is awarded, the office will contact the Dean of Students for notification to the family.
• End student’s program in PeopleSoft.
• Update permanent address to that of the executor or next of kin. Contact DOS for address for executor or next of kin.
• Note: The Office of the Registrar does not make direct contact with the next of kin.

Office of Admissions will: 

• Delete the contact record(s) from our Customer Relationship Management System to avoid any future emails.
• If the student is not matriculated, code the applicant’s record as “Deceased” in PeopleSoft by adding a row of WADM/DEAT.
• Update permanent address to that of the executor or next of kin. Contact DOS for address of next of kin.

Office of the Provost will:

• Ensure clear and effective communications occur between the Colleges and the Office of the Dean of Students. For example, this may include requests to send additional condolence letters, returning personal belongings to the next of kin, and/or determining the status of any state-owned property/equipment loaned out to the student from the college.

Associated Students, Inc. will:

• Work with ASI Human Resources to determine if the student was an ASI employee. If the student was employed by ASI, appropriate action will be taken.
• Coordinate with appropriate staff to determine if the student was registered for any ASI programs. If so, appropriate action will be taken.

Cal Poly Corporation will:

The Executive Director will notify the following department supervisors:

• Campus Dining Customer Service – The deceased student’s account will be checked to see if they have a Campus Express account and, if so, appropriate action will be taken.
• Corporation Accounts Receivable – The deceased student’s account will be checked to see if they are on a meal plan or if books or supplies have been ordered at the bookstore and, if so, appropriate action will be taken.

Career Services will:

• Upon receipt of notification of a student death, the Executive Director or designee will archive the student’s profile on the software platforms Cal Poly Career Connections (a.k.a. Peoplegrove), MustangJOBS (a.k.a. Handshake), and 12Twenty.

Campus Health and Wellbeing will:

• Upon receipt of notification of a student death, a member of CH&W’s management team may notify Health Services (HS) medical records staff of a student’s death and restrict access to the student's electronic health record (e.g., PyraMED). Only CH&W employees with appropriate security permissions can access the affected record. Cal Poly will take action to appropriately adjust the student’s charges and/or fees to align with the products and services rendered. Cal Poly will then make adjustments to the student Financial Aid and evaluate any additional resources that could be afforded to the student’s account. Following this and as needed, refunds will be processed and/or outstanding balances be collected.
• The Director of Counseling Services will inform all Counseling Services staff members of the student death. If requested, Counseling Services will coordinate with the Dean of Students to contact relevant faculty, staff, and students to offer supportive counseling and assistance. As appropriate, Counseling Services will coordinate with agencies that can help serve the student community needs.
• Counseling Services, in consultation with ASI leaders, will work with the Dean of Students to coordinate assistance to those students/faculty/staff wishing to hold an on-campus memorial service for the deceased student.

Disability Resource Center will:

• Check the student’s name against their in-house database to see if they are a DRC student. If not, no further action will be taken. If they were a DRC student, their advisor will be notified, any DRC services the student was scheduled to use (e.g., testing accommodations, note-taking, on-campus transportation, etc.) will be cancelled and their DRC educational records will be archived notating the student’s death.

Center for Teaching and Learning will:

• The Center for Teaching and Learning will provide guidance about faculty’s pedagogical role in support of students who have lost a classmate. They will reach out directly to the faculty who had the deceased student in their class to help them guide the student’s classmates through this tragedy.

Facilities Services will:

• Contact the VPSA Office if any keys are checked-out to the deceased student. If so, and the key(s) are returned to Facility Services, it/they will be recorded on the student’s key card as having been returned. If the key(s) is/are not returned, it/they will be identified as being “lost,” which allows the department(s) to which the keys belong to determine whether or not re-keying will need to take place for security purposes.

Financial Aid Office will:

• Determine if the student was receiving financial aid. If not, the e-mail notification is filed with a notation. If the student did receive financial aid, either currently or in the past, the following steps will be taken:

• The award for the current year will be cancelled and a “hold” will be placed on any further disbursements.
• Cal Poly will take action to appropriately adjust the student’s charges and/or fees to align with the products and services rendered. Cal Poly then will make adjustments to the student Financial Aid and evaluate any additional resources that could be afforded to the student’s account. Following this and as needed, refunds will be processed and/or outstanding balances be collected.
• If the student had any federal loans, the lender will be notified.
• The next of kin or executor are assured that if they have any questions or problems, they should contact the Financial Aid Office directly.

Information Technology Services will:

• Lock/Suspend the student’s account.

Parent and Family Programs will:

• Confirm the student’s parent/supporter email(s) in the Advancement Web database and remove it from their email distribution list. If the student is not matriculated, they will work with Admissions to ensure that the incoming parent/supporter’s email is removed from their parent/supporter admissions newsletter distribution list.

Student Accounts will:

• Confirm the student account is adjusted appropriately based on the circumstances and if a refund is available, confirm with Dean of Student office direct deposit/address information on file.
• Cal Poly will take action to appropriately adjust the student’s charges and/or fees to align with the products and services rendered. Cal Poly then will make adjustments to the student Financial Aid and evaluate any additional resources that could be afforded to the student’s account. Following this and as needed, refunds will be processed and/or outstanding balances be collected.

Kennedy Library will:

• Determine if the deceased student had library materials checked out. Cal Poly will take action to appropriately adjust the student’s charges and/or fees to align with the products and services rendered. Cal Poly then will make adjustments to the student Financial Aid and evaluate any additional resources that could be afforded to the student’s account. Following this and as needed, refunds will be processed and/or outstanding balances be collected.

Leadership & Service will:

• Work to determine if the student was involved in any recognized student organizations (RSO) or participated in department activities or leadership roles. If the student was involved, appropriate action will be taken, which may include providing rosters and involvement data to the Dean of Students or other appropriate administrator for notification and/or support of close contacts.

New Student & Transition Programs will:

• Verify whether the student was affiliated as an NSTP student leader or staff member and notify appropriate staff.

Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities will:

• Run the student’s name against their in-house database to determine if the student had a previous or pending disciplinary case. OSRR will notify the VPSA Office as to whether the student has a case pending, and if so, provide information on the circumstances and status of the case.

Risk Management will:

• Notify the CSU Risk Management Authority (CSURMA) office at the Office of the Chancellor upon being advised of a student death and provide details as appropriate.
• Participate in an investigation if directed.

Student Academic Services will:

• Verify whether the student was affiliated with any SAS (Student Academic Services) programs and/or classes, and the appropriate staff will be notified.

Transportation and Parking Services will:

• Determine if a partial refund for a parking permit is warranted.

University Communications will:

• Coordinate all contacts with media, maintain written articles/ publications, and mail them to the family upon request. Although the education records of deceased eligible students are not protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Cal Poly will continue to protect non-directory information to the extent permitted under law. Also, if the student has their FERPA flag set, Cal Poly will continue to honor that protection selection.

University Legal Counsel will:

• Receive the initial official student death bulletin via e-mail that is sent by the VPSA Office to members of executive leadership.
• Receive the campuswide e-mail notification from the VPSA office, for information purposes only.

University Housing will:

• Cancel student on-campus housing (including dining) and process any necessary housing refunds (for students that live on campus).
• Collaborate with the Dean of Students office and CPPD to coordinate room move-out with the family (if applicable)
• Contact Counseling services to offer supportive counseling and assistance to residents and staff or to coordinate with agencies that can provide assistance in serving the student community needs.