» Student Conduct Procedures

Community Conversations

Community Conversations shall be conducted by a conduct officer according to the following guidelines:

• Community Conversations shall be conducted in private.
• Students have the opportunity to accept responsibility for violation(s) of the Student Conduct Code in a Community Conversation. If both the student and the conduct officer agree on the violation(s), the student may opt to waive their right to a formal hearing and elect to discuss appropriate sanctions in the Community Conversation.
• All sanctioning determinations will consider the finding(s) of responsibility and a student’s cumulative conduct history.
• In the event that the conduct officer and student do not agree on the outcome (either responsibility for violations or sanctions) or the student does not appear for a community conversation, the incident will be forwarded for a conduct hearing.
• Should new charges surface as a result of, or during, a Community Conversation, and no additional investigation is needed, the charges may be verbally introduced and discussed during the current Community Conversation.

Administrative Hearings

Administrative hearings shall be conducted by a conduct officer according to the following guidelines:

• Hearings shall be conducted by a conduct body according to the following guidelines:
• Hearings shall be conducted in private.
• Admission of any person to the hearing shall be at the discretion of the conduct officer.
• In hearings involving more than one respondent, the presiding officer or conduct officer(s), at their discretion, may permit the hearings concerning each student to be conducted together with the consent of all relevant parties.
• The complainant and the respondent may each be accompanied by one support person at the hearing, as defined in Article I.FF. of the Code.
• The complainant and/or the respondent each are responsible for speaking on their own behalf. Support persons may not participate directly in the hearing other than quiet communication with the student they are accompanying. This communication must not interfere with the conduct process. Failure to comply will result in the removal of the support person. During the course of a hearing, the complainant and/or the respondent may request brief recesses to consult with their support persons. These requests may be granted at the discretion of the conduct officer/hearing board, but will not be granted in excess such that it unreasonably impacts the hearing process.
• Except as provided in this section, the presence or participation of attorneys at hearings or otherwise in the process is not permitted, as the conduct proceeding is not meant to function as a court of law. An exception may be made only where the respondent has been charged with a crime arising out of the same operative facts as the charge under the Code and the criminal charges are presently pending.
• Where an attorney is permitted, the attorney must conform to the same requirements as applied to a support person.
• With reasonable written notification to the conduct body (2 business days prior to the hearing), the complainant and the respondent shall have the opportunity of presenting witness statements, provided the statements contain information directly related to the incident in question. In the event that witnesses are permitted or requested by the conduct officer(s) to attend a hearing, the other party shall have the opportunity to submit suggested questions for the witness(es) to the conduct officer(s). The conduct officer(s) retains the authority to determine which questions will be helpful in deliberation, and may exclude questions that are not helpful, including but not limited to questions that are unfairly prejudicial, repetitive, confusing, compound, argumentative, misleading, or not probative of the disputed facts or to the determination of the case.
• Any pertinent materials and written statements must be submitted for consideration to the conduct body at least 2 business days prior to the hearing.
• All procedural questions are subject to the final decision of the conduct officer in consultation with the Vice President for Student Affairs or designee (when applicable).
• After the hearing, the conduct body or conduct officer(s) shall excuse all parties, engage in deliberation, and determine (by consensus, or if necessary, by majority vote) which portion(s) of the Code, if any, the respondent has violated.
• The conduct officer’s determination shall be made on the basis of whether it is more likely than not that the respondent violated the Code.
• The conduct officer(s) shall make determinations regarding the respondent’s responsibility for violations of the Code based solely upon material presented at the hearing. All sanctioning determinations will consider the finding(s) of responsibility and a student’s cumulative conduct history.
• Should new charges surface as a result of, or during, a conduct process, and no additional investigation is needed, the charges may be verbally introduced and heard during the current hearing.
• Hearings shall ordinarily be recorded (the deliberation phase is exempt) although written notes may serve as a substitute. This record shall be the property of the University. Student respondents or complainants at the hearing are free to take their own notes, but they may not use a recording device. Hearing records are confidential.
• Formal rules of process, procedure and/or technical rules of evidence, such as applied in criminal or civil court, are not used in Code proceedings.
  • Note: Students charged with violations of the Code during Study Abroad, Interterm or other travel courses will be notified of the charges and have the opportunity to respond to those charges, as well as the opportunity to appeal the outcome of their cases. However, the condensed duration of these courses and the limited availability of on-site administrators may necessitate a modified conduct process in some situations.
• No student may be found to have violated the Code solely because the student failed to appear at a hearing. However, failure to appear, without obtaining prior approval due to documented extenuating circumstances, will result in the student’s loss of their opportunity to appeal the outcome of the conduct proceeding.
• If a student does not appear for a hearing, the material relevant to the charges shall be presented and considered without the student’s participation.
• A student’s (or group’s) cumulative community conversations, deferred incidents, and conduct history will not be considered by the conduct body until the sanctioning phase of the deliberations.
• The conduct officer may accommodate the concerns for personal safety, well-being, and/or fear of confrontation by the respondent, complainant and/or other witness by permitting participation by telephone, video-conference, closed circuit television, videotape, audio, written statement or other means, as determined in the sole judgment of the Vice President for Student Affairs or designee.

Not sure what to do before a hearing? View the Preparing for a Hearing PDF for more information.

Did you just have a hearing? View the Hearing Outcomes PDF for more information. 

Appeals are not granted automatically. Requests for appeal must be thoughtful, well-reasoned, substantive, and demonstrative of at least one of the following criteria:

1. That there was a substantive procedural error that may have prohibited the hearing from being conducted fairly in light of the charges. Deviations from designated procedures will not be a basis for sustaining an appeal unless significant prejudice results.
2. The facts in the case were insufficient to establish that a violation of the Code occurred.
3. The sanction(s) imposed was not appropriate for the violation of the Code for which the student was found to be responsible and the student’s conduct history.
4. New evidence that was not available at the time of the hearing has become available, and is potentially sufficient to alter a decision.

View the Appeals Process PDF for more information.