Preliminary Procedures

The Primary Administrative Officer/Designee(s) shall investigate any reported student misconduct before initiating formal conduct procedures and give the student the opportunity to present a personal version of the incident or occurrence. The Primary Administrative Officer/Designee(s) may discuss with any student such alleged misconduct and the student shall attend such consultation as requested by the Primary Administrative Officer/Designee(s). The Primary Administrative Officer/Designee(s), in making an investigation and disposition, may utilize student courts and boards and/or divisional deans to make recommendations.

Informal Dispositions

The Primary Administrative Officer/Designee(s) shall have the authority to make a determination and to impose appropriate sanctions and shall fix a reasonable time within which the student shall accept or reject a proposed informal disposition. A failure of the student either to accept or reject within the time fixed may be deemed by the University to be an acceptance of the determination, provided the student has received written notice of the proposed determination and the result of the student’s failure to formally reject and, in such event, the proposed disposition shall become final upon expiration of such time. If the student rejects informal disposition it must be in writing and shall be forwarded to the Committee. The Primary Administrative Officer/Designee(s) may refer cases to the Committee without first offering informal disposition.

Formal Procedure and Disposition

Student Conduct Committee:

1. The Committee shall be appointed by the Chancellor and shall have the authority to impose appropriate sanctions upon any student or students appearing before it.
2. The Committee, when appropriate or convenient, may be divided by the Chair of the Committee into Hearing Panels, each panel to be composed of at least five Committee members, which may include a maximum of two students, present at the hearing, including a designated chair. A Hearing Panel has the authority of the whole Committee in those cases assigned to it. The Chair of the Committee or of a Hearing Panel shall count as one member of the Committee or Hearing Panel and have the same rights as other members.
3. Each Chancellor shall appoint a panel of students, to be known as the Student Panel. Upon written request of a student charged before the Committee, made at least seventy-two (72) hours prior to the hearing, the Chair of the Committee or Hearing Panel shall appoint from the Student Panel not more than three students to sit with the Committee or two students to sit with the Hearing Panel (as stated in 4.a.(2)) for that particular case. When students from the Student Panel serve at the request of a student charged, they shall have the same rights as other members of the Committee or Hearing Panel.

General Statement of Procedures

A student charged with a breach of the Student Conduct Code is entitled to a written notice and a formal hearing unless the matter is disposed of under the rules for informal disposition. Student conduct proceedings are not to be construed as judicial trials and need not wait for legal action before proceeding; but care shall be taken to comply as fully as possible with the spirit and intent of the procedural safeguards set forth herein. The Office of the General Counsel shall be legal adviser to the Committee and the Primary Administrative Officer/Designee(s).

Notice

The Primary Administrative Officer/Designee(s) shall initiate student conduct proceedings by arranging with the Chair to call a meeting of the Committee and by giving written notice by certified mail or personal delivery to the student charged with misconduct. The notice shall set forth the date, time, and place of the alleged violation and the date, time, and place of the hearing before the Committee.

Notice by certified mail may be addressed to the last address currently on record with the University. Failure by the student to have a current correct local address on record with the University shall not be construed to invalidate such notice. The notice shall be given at least seven (7) consecutive days prior to the hearing, unless a shorter time be fixed by the Chair for good cause.

Any request for continuance shall be made in writing to the Chair, who shall have the authority to continue the hearing if the request is timely and made for good cause. The Chair shall notify the Primary Administrative Officer/Designee(s) and the student of the new date for the hearing. If the student fails to appear at the scheduled time, the Committee may hear and determine the matter.