Office of Residence Life and Housing
Conduct Procedures
All student conduct
proceedings are closed. The university reserves the right
to audiotape any conduct proceeding or investigative review.
Further, the student must obtain permission from the judicial
officer to audiotape the conduct proceeding. Any audiotape
that is made by the university may be listened to by the charged
student, but not copied.
A
judicial officer may initiate the conduct process on the basis of
a written complaint filed by anyone, a Residence Life incident
report, or a police report.
Upon receipt of the complaint or report, the judicial
officer may conduct an investigation to decide whether there is
substance to the allegations, whether the allegations fall within
the jurisdiction of this policy, and whether conduct proceedings
should occur.
-
Notice
- The judicial officer shall initiate the
conduct process by sending written notice to the student
who is the subject of the report or complaint.
Notice to the student will be considered furnished once
the Office of Residence Life and Housing follows these
mailing guidelines.
- The notice shall include:
i.
A description of the alleged
misconduct;
ii.
The conduct code provisions that are alleged to
have been violated;
iii.
A date and time for the conference in which the
student must meet with the judicial officer. If the student
is unable to meet during this time it will be the student’s
responsibility to reschedule in advance of the
conference.
-
Conference
- At the conference, the judicial officer
will explain the conduct process and answer any questions
the student may have. The judicial officer will
review the complaint with the student. The student
shall have the opportunity to present documents and to
explain his/her understanding of what happened. The
charged student and an alleged victim may provide an
impact statement for consideration during the conduct
proceedings. The judicial officer may discuss the
matter further with the charged student, conduct further
investigation as needed, and based on evidence received,
determine by a preponderance of evidence whether or not
the student has violated the Student Conduct Code. If so,
the judicial officer will determine the
sanction.
- Evidence
In order to find that a student has violated a
standard of conduct, the burden of proof required is a
preponderance of evidence, i.e. does the evidence demonstrate
that it is more likely than not that the conduct occurred?
The hearing need not be conducted according to the technical
rules of evidence. Any relevant evidence may be considered
if it is the sort of evidence on which responsible persons are
accustomed to rely in the conduct of serious affairs. No
evidence other than that received at the hearing or in
conjunction with the conduct process shall be
considered.
-
Expedited
Conference
- When the judicial officer determines
that a prompt review is essential (e.g., end of the
semester, the student is graduating, or there is
substantial concern for the health, safety, or welfare of
a member of the university community), the judicial
officer may require that the student meet with him or her
within 24 hours.
- In addition, notice may be initially
given in these instances by an end of the semester
contact form, by telephone, or by email. If the student
fails to attend the conference in the time specified, the
judicial officer can decide the outcome of the case in
the student’s absence.