Student Conduct Code

1. Any member of the college community may file a complaint against a student for misconduct. Complaints shall be prepared in writing and directed to the Dean of Students Office. Any charge should be submitted as soon as possible after the event has taken place, preferably within 10 academic days. Complaints of sexual misconduct should be made, and shall proceed, pursuant to the RIOPC Title IX Policy and Complaint Procedure (see page 59).
2. The Dean of Students Office will hold a preliminary interview to determine if the charges have merit and/or if they can be disposed of administratively by mutual consent of the parties involved on a basis acceptable to the college. Such disposition shall be final and there shall be no subsequent proceedings. If the charges cannot be disposed of by mutual consent, the matter will be referred to a student conduct hearing board.
3. All charges shall be presented to the accused student in written form. A time shall be set for a hearing, no less than four (4) or more than 10 business days after the respondent’s initial interview. Maximum time limits for scheduling of hearings may be extended at the discretion of the dean of students with required notification of the parties involved.
4. The student conduct hearing board shall hold hearings. During breaks or at other times when a conduct hearing board cannot be convened, hearings may be conducted by an administrative hearing officer acting as chairperson and board.
   1. Hearings shall be conducted in private.
   2. Admission of any person to the hearing shall be at the discretion of the student conduct hearing board chair and/or a conduct hearing officer.
   3. In hearings involving more than one respondent, the chairperson of the student conduct hearing board, at his or her discretion, may permit the hearings concerning each student to be conducted separately.
   4. The complainant and the respondent have the right to be assisted by any adviser they choose. The complainant and/or the respondent is responsible for presenting his or her case and, therefore, advisers are not permitted to speak or to participate directly in any hearing before a student conduct hearing board.
   5. In cases involving sexual misconduct, hate crimes or non-sexual harassment, both the complainant and the respondent may request that steps be taken to provide testimony in a manner that does not require being in the physical presence of the other as long as such steps do not deny either party access to the information presented by the parties.
   6. The complainant and the respondent shall have the privilege of presenting witnesses with relevant information regarding the charge(s), subject to the right of questioning only by a student conduct hearing board. Neither the complainant nor the respondent may question witnesses or each other. Questions may be directed to the chair of the student conduct hearing board by the complainant or respondent.
   7. The student conduct hearing board, at the discretion of the chairperson, may accept pertinent records, exhibits and written statements as evidence for consideration.
   8. All procedural questions are subject to the final decision of the chairperson of the student conduct hearing board.
   9. After the hearing, a student conduct hearing board shall determine and notify the dean of students within two (2) academic days of the hearing (by majority vote) whether the student has violated each section of the Student Conduct Code that the student is charged with violating.
   10. A student conduct hearing board’s determination shall be made on the basis of the preponderance of evidence standard, i.e. the greater weight of the evidence demonstrates that the respondent violated the Student Conduct Code.
   11. No student may be found to have violated the Student Conduct Code solely because the student failed to appear before a hearing board. In all cases, the evidence in support of the charges shall be presented and considered.
   12. Only the respondent is notified of the outcome and the sanction of a conduct hearing board. The complainant will be informed of the decision of the board, but not the details of any sanction except in cases involving allegations of sexual misconduct or otherwise provided for by law. In these cases, both complainant and the accused will be notified of the decision in full and concurrently.
5. In such circumstances where a student is served with a no-trespass order by Campus Police as a matter of public safety, Campus Police shall file a complaint with the Dean of Students Office (in the format required by that office) within one business day in order to process the complaint through the established student conduct process.

• 1. Emergency suspension – In certain circumstances, the vice president for Student Affairs, at the recommendation of the Threat Assessment Committee, may impose a college suspension prior to the hearing before a student conduct hearing board. It may be imposed:
  • i)To ensure the safety and well-being of members of the college community or preservation of college property;
  • ii)To ensure the student’s own physical or emotional safety and well-being; or
  • iii)If the student poses a definite threat of disruption of or interference with normal operations of the college.
• During the emergency suspension, students shall be denied access to the campus (including classes) and/or all other college activities or privileges for which the student might otherwise be eligible, as the vice president for Student Affairs or his/her designee may determine to be appropriate. In some circumstances, the college may request a psychiatric evaluation from a licensed mental health professional as a condition of return. Notification of the student’s faculty and limited notification of key college departments will be made. 
• 2. No-contact directive – In certain circumstances, the dean of students may impose a no-contact directive prior to the hearing before a student conduct hearing board when the charge is non-sexual harassment or sexual misconduct, or there is reason to believe that negative contact could occur and impact the student conduct hearing. The college-issued and binding directive is to have no contact with a specified person or persons. This includes physical contact, in-person communication, written communication, electronic forms of communication, the enlisting of third parties to communicate on your behalf, and public postings and declarations intended to send implicit messages to the specified person or persons. All efforts will be made to avoid directing a student to stop attending a classes or classes prior to a hearing board’s decision, and, if necessary, assistance will be given to the student to continue in his or her classwork to the extent possible.
• 3. Removal from course section or activity – In certain circumstance, the dean of students may temporarily remove a student from a section of a course if his or her continued presence in the section will create a situation in which the expected teaching and learning process will be disrupted. This may include, but is not limited to, personal behaviors in the classroom, allegations of sexual misconduct, or interpersonal disputes with the instructor or fellow classmates that cannot be avoided.
• 4. Administrative holds - An administrative hold may be applied to a student’s account at the discretion of the Dean of Students Office prior to adjudication of charges if a student refuses to or fails to respond to charges brought against him or her. Holds are to be lifted upon meeting with designated staff and are not an indication of actual responsibility for said charges.

1. The following, as well as other appropriate sanctions, may be imposed upon any student found to have violated the Student Conduct Code:
   1. Warning – A notice in writing to the student that the student is violating or has violated institutional regulations.
   2. Probation – A written reprimand for violation of specified regulations. Probation is for a designated period of time and includes the probability of more severe disciplinary sanctions if the student is found to be violating any institutional regulation(s) during the probationary period.
   3. Loss of privileges – Denial of specified privileges for a designated period of time. This may include limitations on a student’s right to access parts or all of a facility in cases where the student conduct hearing board believes contact between two parties would be detrimental to one or both of the students or that it is in the college’s best interests.
   4. Fines – Previously established and published fines may be imposed. Fines posted below.
   5. Restitution – Compensation for loss, damage or injury. This may take the form of appropriate service and/or monetary or material replacement.
   6. Discretionary sanctions – Work assignments, service to the college, educational assignments or other related discretionary assignments (Such assignments must have the approval of the dean of students.)
   7. No-contact directive – A college-issued and binding directive to have no contact with a specified person or persons. This includes physical contact, in-person communication, written communication, electronic forms of communication, the enlisting of third parties to communicate on your behalf, and public postings and declarations intended to send implicit messages to the specified person or persons.
   8. Removal from course – when a student repeatedly disrupts a classroom learning environment and does not respond to faculty efforts to address the behavior, a faculty member may request a student be permanently removed from the classroom without grade or refund. This sanction may only be imposed permanently by a conduct hearing board. A student may remain in the classroom pending the decision of the hearing board, unless determined to be a continuing disruption by the dean of students.
   9. College suspension – Separation of the student from the college for a defined period of time, after which the student is eligible to return. Conditions for readmission, including a reinstatement review by the associate vice president, may be specified. In some circumstances, the college may request a psychiatric evaluation from a licensed mental health professional as a condition of return. Notification of the student’s faculty and limited notification of key college departments will be made.
   10. College expulsion – Permanent separation of the student from the college. This sanction only may be imposed by a student conduct hearing board.

2. More than one of the sanctions listed above may be imposed for any single violation.
3. Other than college expulsion, disciplinary sanctions shall not be made part of the student’s permanent academic record, but shall become part of the student’s disciplinary record. Upon graduation, the student’s disciplinary record may be expunged of disciplinary actions other than college suspension or college expulsion upon application to the Dean of Students Office. Disciplinary records shall be destroyed six years after the date of the incident that led to the initiation of disciplinary action.
4. The following, as well as other sanctions, may be imposed upon groups or organizations:
   1. Those sanctions listed above in Section C 1, except suspension or expulsion.
   2. Deactivation – Loss of all privileges, including college recognition, for a specified period of time.

5. In each case in which the student conduct hearing board determines that a student has violated the Student Conduct Code, the sanction(s) shall be determined by that board and imposed by the Dean of Students Office.

The following fines may be imposed only after an admission of responsibility from the respondent or a finding of responsibility by a student conduct hearing board or hearing officer.

1. A decision reached or a sanction imposed by a student conduct hearing board may be appealed by the respondents(s) or complainant(s) to the vice president for Student Affairs within five (5) business days of receiving the decision. Such appeals shall be in writing and shall be delivered to the Student Affairs Office
2. An appeal shall be limited to review of the original hearing and the supporting documents for one or more of the following purposes:
   1. To determine whether the original hearing was conducted fairly in light of the charges and evidence presented, and in conformity with prescribed procedures giving the complaining party a reasonable opportunity to prepare and present evidence that the Student Conduct Code was violated, and giving the accused student a reasonable opportunity to prepare and to present a rebuttal of those allegations.
   2. To determine whether the decision reached regarding the accused student was based on a preponderance of evidence, that is, whether the facts in the case were sufficient to establish that a violation of the Student Conduct Code occurred.
   3. To determine whether the sanction(s) imposed were appropriate for the violation of the Student Conduct Code that the student was found to have committed.
   4. To consider new evidence or other relevant facts 1) not brought out in the original hearing, and 2) sufficient to alter a decision, because such evidence and/or facts were not known to the person appealing at the time of the original hearing or investigation.
3. Appeals are accepted if there is sufficient evidence to meet any of the above criteria and it can be demonstrated by the party requesting the appeal that the factor being appealed made a material difference in the determination of responsibility or the sanction imposed. If the vice president for Student Affairs upholds an appeal, he or she may rule directly on the matter or the case may be remanded back to the original student conduct hearing board or administrative hearing officer with specific instructions for reconsideration of the original determination and/or sanction(s).
4. In cases involving appeals by students accused of violating the Student Conduct Code, review of the sanction by the vice president for Student Affairs may not result in more severe sanction(s) for the accused student. Instead, following an appeal, the vice president for Student Affairs, upon review of the case, may reduce but not increase the sanctions imposed by the student conduct hearing board or remand the case to the original hearing officer or hearing board.
5. In cases involving appeals by complainants, the vice president for Student Affairs upon review of the case may reduce or increase the sanctions imposed by the student conduct hearing board or remand the case to the original hearing officer or hearing board.
6. Alternatively, once a student has exhausted the internal complaint or grievance processes, he or she may choose to utilize the complaint process overseen by the Council on Postsecondary Education and the Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner or “equivalent governing board” in compliance with the Federal Program Integrity Rule. The specific types of complaints covered by these regulations are:
   1. Allegations of state consumer protection violations, including, but not limited to fraud and false advertising;
   2. Allegations that state laws or rules addressing the licensure of postsecondary institutions have been violated; and
   3. Allegations regarding the quality of education or other accreditation requirements.

For more information and details on how to file a program integrity complaint, visit the Council on Postsecondary Education and the Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner “or equivalent governing board” website at https://www.riopc.edu.