Catastrophic Event Policy and Procedures

Responsible Executives: President, Provost, Vice President for Administration
Responsible Office: President’s Office
Effective: 10/13/2025
Last Reviewed: 10/13/2025
Revised: 10/13/2025

 

Policy Statement

Catastrophic events and other crises or emergency situations may disrupt the normal educational process at HJ International Graduate School for Peace and Public Leadership (HJI). HJI is committed to provide a safe environment for its staff and students, to provide services to students for which they have paid, and to provide continuity of operations if at all possible.

Continuity of Operations

HJI has the capacity to deliver all of its programs in either in-person or in fully online formats. Currently, the majority of its courses are delivered online (Canvas), and several of its administrative and academic systems are cloud-based (e.g. Populi, Canvas). This mitigates the impact of natural catastrophes. However, there are programs and activities that are campus based.
In case of an emergency, students and staff will be informed via Populi’s SMS function and via email regarding any alternate plans for instruction. The HJI Website (www.hji.edu) will be utilized as well for notification of important events.

Records Protection

Student’s academic information is housed in Populi (SIS). For Populi’s data security measures see Appendix A. At the end of each academic term, the student’s information is printed and stored in fireproof, lockable filing cabinets. Each permanent student record is digitally imaged, and stored in a password protected hard drive as well.
Student’s financial information is housed in Quickbooks that is accessed via VPN under several firewalls. Its data is regularly backed up.

Program and Institutional Closure

In the event of the need for a program closure, HJI will consider the needs of each student on a case-by-case basis and with special consideration of the specific requirements of each degree or program. Any student enrolled in an affected program will be notified in person and his/her options on the path to completion in the program will be discussed and facilitated. Besides finishing in their original program, options may include changing to a different program at HJI or providing help in transferring to a different institution. An official teach-out plan will be submitted to MSCHE and NY State Education Department according to their regulations.
In case of an institutional closure, the same principles will apply as for individual program closures: HJI will ensure that each student has a path to their program completion, either by offering the necessary requirements in-house or via transfer. Student records will be secured at a designated depository (either the State or another institution), and students and alumni will be informed about the location of their records.

Facilities

In case of building closure all academic and administrative proceedings will be handled online until a suitable campus is reestablished. In case of an emergency that would affect any students, faculty or staff that were in the building at the time of the emergency, evacuation procedures will be broadcast through the building-wide public address system – evacuation routes are also found in multiple locations posted on each floor.

APPENDIX A
An overview of Populi’s data security measures

Outside auditors often ask our customers to provide an overview of Populi’s data security practices. The following list describes the various security layers in Populi—from the controls in place at our data centers to access permissions within Populi itself.

 

• Customer data is stored in SSAE 16 Type II compliant data centers.
• The data centers feature compartmentalized security zones and biometric access controls.
• The primary data center backs up to a cloud-based data center.
• Populi is guarded by firewalls and overseen with proactive monitoring for hacking/probing attempts.
• All user access to Populi occurs over 256-bit SSL-encrypted connections.
• User logins require alphanumeric passwords; two factor authentication is also offered.
• User accounts are locked after too many failed login attempts.
• User sessions are subject to automated timed logouts after a certain period of inactivity.
• Information access in Populi is based on an individual user’s role-based permissions.
• All changes to core academic and financial data (as well as other data) are tracked in system change logs. All financial transactions have a complete audit trail.
• Customer data is backed-up on a rolling basis: daily, weekly, and monthly.
• The company has a Privacy Policy that discusses the collection, use and disclosure of information.
• The company has a statement on FERPA, which is available in Section 4.5 of the Privacy Policy linked above.
• The company has a business continuity plan that outlines disaster recovery (among other things).

 

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