Recent Code Updates

A workgroup of faculty, staff, and students have spent this academic year soliciting feedback about the current Code of Student Conduct. The Associate Provost/Dean of Students charged the group to propose a revised Code that considers the following:

  1. Revision of prohibited conduct with an anti-racist lens
  2. Incorporation and foregrounding of alternative/non-adjudicative resolution options
  3. Process for integration of academic integrity adjudication into Code

The workgroup proposed significant revision to the Code, and solicited feedback about the draft changes. We integrated feedback and submitted the proposed final version to the Associate Provost/Dean of Students. This Code has been approved for the 2023-24 academic year.

The following summarizes the recommended changes:

Process Changes

  • Replacing integrity formation mission/vision with curricular approach and learning outcomes
    • Related with ongoing work to align student development work with academic affairs.
  • Foregrounding informal/non-adjudicative and alternative resolution options
    • Aligned with goal of de-emphasizing formal processes, and making clearer to students that these are possible options for resolving a report.
  • Clarification of student rights and responsibilities in process
    • Aligned with goal of formatting policy with less formal language.
  • Addition of students to Review Boards
    • Aligned with goals of incorporating students into the process.

Prohibited Conduct Changes

  • Rename “prohibited conduct” to “community standards”
  • Separate cannabis/marijuana from other drugs
    • Aligned with state and regional efforts to decriminalize cannabis.
  • Revise “disorderly conduct” and “disruption”
    • Consistent with feedback from students and faculty about offering more detail.
  • Expand examples of sanctions to offer greater clarity and order them based on type of sanction.

Language Changes

  • “Student” instead of “Respondent”
    • Aligned with goal of formatting policy with less formal language.
  • Collapse three definitions of Review Board, Conduct Review Board, and Organization Review Board into “Review Board.”
    • Aligned with goal of formatting policy with less formal language.
  • “Meeting” instead of “hearing”
    • Aligned with goal of formatting policy with less formal language.

Formatting Changes

  • Adding a table of contents for ease of reference.
  • Inserting hyperlinks throughout document.
  • Creating bulleted lists in some cases rather than paragraphs for ease of reading.