If Student Conduct decides to respond, a Case Manager will be assigned and they will send an initial letter called a Notice of Allegations. The Notice of Allegations will contain several key pieces of information, in order:

1. The Incident Description

• Typically in the second paragraph, starting with “It has been reported that on or around [date] and at or near [location], you participated in the following actions or behaviors: [description of behavior]”

2. The Charges

• Typically the third paragraph and bullets below, starting with “As such, this letter serves as formal notice that the University is initiating student conduct action and that you may be in violation of the following:”
• Student Conduct cannot add charges later without sending a new letter; the charges listed are the only thing that a student can be in trouble for
• A student could be found in violation for one or all of these charges
• Because they cannot add more later, case managers will often “over charge” students instead of “under charging” and will add anything they think a student possibly did, even if they aren’t sure yet

3. The Case Manager Information and meeting time

• Typically in the fourth paragraph, starting with “My name is [name] and I am your assigned case manager.”
• The meeting date, time and access information will be in this paragraph, including Zoom instructions

4. The Expectations for the meeting

5. “Other things you should know”

• A case manager is required to tell a student if suspension or expulsion are being considered, and cannot add suspension as a sanction without sending a new letter
• Look for “Based on my review of the currently available information, I determined that I [will/will not] consider suspension, expulsion, and/or transcript notation as potential administrative sanctions for this case.”

6. The Case File

• If you scroll all the way to the very end of your Notice of Allegations, you will find a copy of your Case File. This is all the information that Student Conduct has about the incident, including the initial report and any additional information they collected during the investigation.

The Informational Meeting is an opportunity for the Case Manager to introduce themselves and explain the students rights, responsibilities and mutual expectations. They will explain that the student can have a support person and provide witnesses, and they will ensure that the student has reviewed the case documents included in the Notice of Allegations

Support person: this can be the student’s parents, friend, advisor, an independent attorney, or the Student Advocacy Program Attorney

• Their role is not to be a witness or to talk on behalf of the student, but to make sure the student understands what is happening, has support, has someone else making sure the process goes correctly, and to help the student navigate the meeting

Witnesses: this can be anyone with direct knowledge of the incident.

• Student Conduct oftentimes won’t consider character witnesses, but would consider someone who saw the incident occur or who knows something important about it

The Administrative Conference is the Case Manager’s opportunity to ask questions about what happened and try to determine if the Code was violated. The Case Manager is trying to determine if there is a preponderance of evidence.

• Preponderance of evidence is also called “50% and a feather” or “more likely than not”
• A Case Manager does not need to prove that the incident occurred “beyond a shadow of a doubt”
• Instead, they need to prove it is “more likely” that the code was violated than that it wasn’t

The student should try to demonstrate that the preponderance of evidence is not met – that it is more likely that the incident did not occur or did not violate the student conduct code – or should provide evidence of “aggravating and mitigating factors.”

Case managers are often looking for other factors beyond just the facts of the case.  These are called aggravating and mitigating factors, and help the case manager choose appropriate sanctions and fair outcomes for the unique details of a given case.

Aggravating Factors: Factors that make the incident worse in some way, more impactful for the community or indicate that the student is likely to repeat the behavior

Examples:

• The student has had other, similar conduct cases that show a pattern of behavior
• The student is aggressive or expresses that they will continue to do the same behavior again
• The student has caused direct, specific harm to their peers or community

Mitigating Factors: Factors that indicate that the incident was not as severe, was less impactful or did not cause harm, or that the student is not likely to repeat the behavior

Examples:

• The student has already done actions to repair the harm caused, like apologizing, paying for damages, or attending substance use programs
• The student was facing some sort of undue pressure to commit the behavior, like shoplifting groceries out of desperation
• The behavior does not cause harm to anyone

Once you have your Administrative Conference, your case manager will send you your case notes. These notes are the record of the things you discussed in the Administrative Conference and become a part of the case file.

You can make edits to these notes if you feel that your case manager forgot something, misinterpreted what you said, or mischaracterized something that you talked about. It’s important to provide edits if you feel there is anything incorrect in the case notes, because these are the only “official” record of what you discussed in your Administrative Conference. If you chose to appeal, these notes are what would be provided to the Appeals Board to justify the case manager’s decision.

To edit the case notes, you can simply let your case manager know the mistake you believe they made. You can also write your own notes and request that they be added to the case notes. This can be helpful if you feel that something you said was misinterpreted or mischaracterize, or that the tone wasn’t captured correctly in writing.

We encourage you to review your case notes carefully and to provide any edits you feel are necessary. This record is an important part of your case, and you want it to be accurate.

The Decision Letter will contain different things depending on the findings. Student Conduct does not use “guilty” or “innocent” language. Instead, the student is “in violation” or “not in violation” of the student conduct code. Typically the finding will be in the first two lines; look for “Based on my review of the totality of the available information, I find you [in violation/not in violation] of the following provisions of the Student Conduct Code”

If you are “In Violation,” you will see these things in your letter:

• The charges (specific rules in the Conduct Code) that you are in violation of
• The rationale
  • This is the specific, detailed reason that the decision was made the way that it was. This should contain all the information that the case manager considered as they chose the outcome, including case facts, aggravating factors and mitigating factors
• The Action Plan
  • Specific sanctions or consequences that the student needs to complete and their deadlines

If you are “Not In Violation,” you will see these things in your letter:

• These letters will only be a few sentences long
• They will simply say that you are not in violation and the matter is concluded
• In this case, you have no student conduct record and nothing else you need to do

“Sanctions” are consequences applied in an in-violation finding. There are two categories of sanctions: administrative sanctions and educational sanctions. Almost all cases will result in both an administrative sanction and one or several educational sanctions.

Administrative sanctions are both a record-keeping sanction and a classification of how serious a case is. Broadly, there are five “levels” of administrative sanction:

• Conduct warnings: the lowest level, for first time, minor offenses. Typically non-reportable
• Disciplinary Probation: for more serious first time offenses or for repeat behaviors; disciplinary probation indicates that future cases will have more serious sanctions
• Deferred Suspension: in this case, a student is not suspended, but is warned that one more incident will result in suspension. The record is maintained forever.
• Suspension:  the incident is serious enough that the student needs to take a break from campus. These may range from one term to several years. There is a notation of suspension on the student’s transcripts for the duration of the suspension, and the conduct record is maintained forever.
• Expulsion: very rare; the incident is serious enough that the student can never safely return to the campus community

Unlike administrative sanctions, educational sanctions can vary widely depending on the details of the case and the case manager. Ideally, they are chosen to meet the individual educational needs of the student involved.

Common examples include:

• Reflection papers of varying length
• Online classes, virtual live workshops or classes via the Counseling Center
• Educational activities like informational interviews or community service opportunities

If you don’t intend to appeal your decision, it is important to complete your sanctions by the deadlines listed in your letter. If you don’t complete them by the deadline, a registration hold can be placed on your account that will prevent you from registering for classes until the sactions are completed, which could prevent you from getting the classes you want or advancing in your degree.

An “In Violation” finding will also have information on how to appeal the case.

An appeal must be submitted within ten business days of receiving the letter, with very, very few exceptions. If you receive an “In Violation” decision that you believe isn’t fair, it’s very important that you begin working on your appeal right away.

Both the Student Advocacy Program Attorney and the Peer Advocates can help you write your appeal. Please schedule a meeting immediately if you would like support.

Holds are applied to a student’s account when they do not complete their sanctions by the assigned deadline. These holds prevent registering for classes or dropping classes, and in some cases, from graduating or accessing your transcripts.

Generally, these holds cannot be removed until the student completes their sanctions.

• Under some limited circumstances, where a student would be unable to complete their sanctions in a reasonable timeframe and would be harmed if the hold is not removed immediately, they can contact Student Conduct for a “Hold Removal Agreement,” which assigns them new deadlines to complete their sanctions and removes the hold temporarily. These are granted rarely and only in circumstances where a student can prove harm will occur if the hold is not removed.

Generally, if you have a conduct hold, you are past your appeals deadline and cannot appeal or change the outcome of the case. Please contact the Student Advocacy Program Attorney for support if you believe this is incorrect.

It is important to attend your meeting, even if you believe you did not do the behavior you’re being accused of. Your case manager cannot make a decision that you didn’t do it unless they hear it from you, because right now, all they have is the report that says you did do it.

The Student Advocacy Program can help you put together the information you need to prove you didn’t do it– please schedule with the Peer Advocates using the tool on our home page, or with the Staff Attorney if this is a serious issue and you’d like someone to attend your meeting.

We are here to help whether you did the behavior or not. Either way you deserve a fair process and a reasonable outcome, and we can help you get all the information you need to achieve that!

Your support person can be anyone that is not a witness in your case. This can be

• Your parent or family member
• A trusted academic advisor or faculty member
• A friend that you trust to support you
• An outside Attorney that you hire
• The Student Advocacy Program Attorney

A support person is there to make sure you feel safe and comfortable, and to make sure you understand what is happening, have support, have someone else making sure the process goes correctly, and to help you navigate the meeting. They are not there to talk on your behalf or be a witness, but they can help make sure you remember to share the information you wanted to share or ask important questions so that you understand what is going on.

If you would like a support person to attend your meeting and still don’t know who to ask, please use the scheduling tool on the “Attorney Services” page and schedule with the Student Advocacy Program attorney! We are here to support you.

Your parent is welcome to attend your meeting as a support person! As a reminder, they are not there to speak on your behalf, but it is very common that students would want their parent or family member to attend. Your case manager will provide you with a release form so that they can talk to your parent, and then your parent is welcome to attend the meeting.