Student Conduct Process

Submission of Incident Report / Review of Information

Incidents that someone believes should be reviewed by the Office of Student Conduct are submitted using the Student Conduct Reporting form. The information is reviewed by the Office of Student Conduct and it is determined whether the actions detailed would be a violation of the Code of Conduct. The relevant charges are then assigned to the students involved. In some cases, additional information is needed to determine if charges are relevant, in which involved students might be requested to attend a Preliminary Inquiry to gather more information about an incident.

Notification of Charges and Student Conduct Conference

Once charges have been assigned to a student, the student is notified through an email to pick up a letter through our Maxient database system. This letter was issued electronically and the student can access the letter by clicking on the link provided and confirming their name and student ID number. The letter will appear in a PDF format.

This letter will include information relating to the incident such as the incident date and charges assigned. It will also include the date and time of a Student Conduct Conference (“SCC”) that has been scheduled with a hearing officer. A hearing officer is an individual at the University who oversees and hears student conduct cases.

The following occurs at a Student Conduct Conference

Review of student rights
Review of the student conduct process
Review of the reported behavior and alleged policy violations
Discuss the incident
Answer/Ask questions

In some instances, students might also be able to come to a mutual agreement resolution with the hearing officer within the SCC, in place of a formal hearing. Students who enter a mutual agreement resolution with their hearing officer waive their right to an appeal.

Administrative Hearing / Honor Board Hearing

If the student and hearing officer do not come to a mutual agreement resolution in the student conduct conference, the next step is a hearing. You can find more information about the two types of hearing below.

Administrative Hearing

An Administrative Hearing is the most common hearing type at the University. At an Administrative Hearing, the student and the hearing officer meet to review all available information related to the situation, including any witness statements and documentation. The student will have an opportunity to respond to any piece of information that might be used to make a decision about responsibility.

At the end of the Administrative Hearing, the hearing officer might share findings (responsible/not responsible) and any applicable sanctions with the student, or the student might receive that information in a letter afterwards.

Honor Board Hearing

The Honor Board hears Code of Conduct cases referred by the Office of Student Conduct. Students who are charged with violations where suspension may be a potential sanction may request the case be heard by the Honor Board rather than an administrative hearing. A case may also be referred to the Honor Board if there is a conflict of interest and no hearing officer is available.

A Social Policy Honor Board hearing is conducted with three board members (2 student life staff and 1 student), a convener, the responding student, a reporting party and/or investigator, advisors, and any witnesses. The student will have an opportunity to provide an opening statement, provide witnesses, and answer questions asked by the board. For more information about the specifics of an Honor Board hearing, you may search the Conduct Procedures for Social Policies page of the Student Handbook.

The decision made by the Honor Board will be communicated to the student after the hearing over email. It will include the findings, a rationale, any assigned sanctions, as well as information about the appeal process.

Findings and Sanctions

At the end of the student conduct process, students are found either “responsible” or “not responsible” for each of the charges that they were assigned. This finding is made using the Preponderance of Evidence standard, which means “more likely than not”. This is different from other standards of evidence you might be more familiar with such as “beyond a reasonable doubt” or “clear and convincing”. With any “responsible” findings, the hearing officer will assign sanctions to the student to facilitate growth and learning and uphold Elon’s expectations for accountability. Sanctions will always include a disciplinary status and typically an educational/reflective and/or restorative action. You can find more information about different sanctions here.

Sanctions are assigned with deadlines, meaning that the student must submit their completed sanction by the given deadline. If a student fails to meet a deadline for an assigned sanction, their hearing officer will place an administrative hold on their account. This hold will prevent students from add/dropping/registering for classes until it is removed. Administrative holds are only removed once the assigned sanction has been completed, submitted, and reviewed by the hearing officer.

Submit a sanction online here.

Appeals

If they did not enter a mutual resolution agreement with their hearing officer, a student has the right to appeal the decision of any hearing officer or board. Appeals must be submitted by 5:00PM on the seventh day after the initial decision was delivered. If a student needs to request an extension to the appeal deadline, they can request that to the Assistant Dean of Students over email. Written appeal requests are submitted using the online submission form, linked below.

Appeals may be considered by an appeal officer or appeal board. Appeals must be based on one or more of the following grounds: new facts, arbitrary and capricious sanctions, or procedural violation.