Purdue updates process of disciplinary proceedings
WESTVILLE, Ind. - Purdue University's board of trustees, meeting Friday (April 9) on the Purdue North Central campus, approved revisions to the process of arbitrating individual student conduct cases, including the creation of a community board to hear and decide such cases.
"It's been more than 30 years since this policy has been updated, and we needed to make changes that better reflect today's understanding of the overall development of college students, as well as the current social, technological, political and legal climates," said Thomas B. Robinson, vice president for student services. "Purdue strives to hold students to high standards of behavior, and the new guidelines are written to hold students accountable for their actions with the intended outcomes of developing character, citizenship and leadership, and encouraging social and emotional development."
Cases of student conduct, which are adjudicated by the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, can include allegations of unacceptable social behavior, physical abuse of any person or conduct that threatens or endangers the health or safety of others, cheating, plagiarism, forgery of university documents, obstruction of any university activity, or theft.
The revisions will take effect July 1. Starting then, students can elect to have a case heard by the Purdue Community Standards Board, which will be composed of students, faculty and staff.
"The goal of this process is to help students learn from their behavior," Robinson said. "When confronted with unacceptable behavior, students will often admit to wrongdoing or poor judgment and want to explain or talk about the situation. These conversations with peers can be truly teachable moments when ethical dialogue begins and reflective thoughts result in changed perspectives."
In addition to the Community Standards Board, the procedural revisions include expanding the use of educational sanctions, establishing criteria for appeals and reducing the number of legalistic terms in the policy.
For example, when assigning educational sanctions, such as educational programming, community services or assigned writing, careful attention will be paid to the type of incident, demeanor of the student and circumstances of the case, Robinson said.
In regards to appeals, the current policy allows any accused student who disagrees with the decision sanctioned by the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities administrator to initiate an appeal. The new criteria for appeals includes the development of new information that was not available at the time of the initial hearing, if there is evidence the university failed to follow established procedures or the sanction is grossly disproportionate to the offense.
To reinforce the educational nature of the process, the change in legalese will shift away from using words that have criminal or legal connotations. For example, "information" will be used instead of "evidence" and "responsible" will be used instead of "guilty."
The procedures for handling cases of student conduct are stated in University Regulations Part 5, Section III, and they adhere to standards of due process and follow existing state and federal laws. These changes are the results of two task forces, made up of administrators, faculty and students, that reviewed the policy and procedures.
Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Source: Thomas Robinson, 765-494-5776, trobinson@purdue.edu
Related Web site:
Current Regulations Governing Student, Conduct, Disciplinary Proceedings and Appeals:
https://www.purdue.edu/univregs/pages/stu_conduct/stu_regulations.html