Campus Conduct Hearing Board
The Campus Conduct Hearing Board consists of five elected faculty members, five elected staff members, and four students appointed by SGA, plus other students as needed from a pool of Judicial-Board student chairs (trained in judicial hearing processes). Additionally, the Student Life Council (SLC) will annually appoint one member to serve on the Campus Conduct Hearing Board. The board should have racial and gender diversity. No member of the Campus Conduct Hearing Board may serve simultaneously on the Faculty Status Council or the Faculty Appeals Committee. Faculty and staff members are elected to serve terms of five years, with two members elected each year. The four student members shall be appointed annually by SGA. These students must not be on any form of probation and they must have already completed or be willing to complete judicial training. The Campus Conduct Hearing Board serves as a pool of persons from which panels are selected to hold formal hearings on matters presented to it. Student members may not sit on hearing boards involving employees.
Staff Hearings
These matters may include individual complaints of harassment, sexual harassment, unlawful discrimination, or other employment-related grievances which apply to all employees of the College. For each case to be heard, a panel of three persons from the Campus Conduct Hearing Board is selected by the President with attention given to gender balance and other relevant factors. As noted above, student members may not sit on hearing boards involving employees. For cases involving non-teaching staff at least one member of the panel must be a General Faculty Assembly member. One panel member may be excused on challenge by each party.
To provide an opportunity for members to excuse themselves if appropriate or in any instance in which there are an insufficient number of Hearing Board members to meet the above requirements or to satisfy other essential material needs to ensure a fair hearing, the President may appoint one or more panel members from outside the Board.
The chair, appointed for each panel by the President, is expected to convene the panel in a timely way, to conduct the hearing, and to submit a written report of findings and recommendations to the President. The Title VII/IX Coordinator and the Director of People Services will advise panels hearing cases involving harassment, sexual harassment, unlawful discrimination, or alleged violations of the College’s Consensual Relationship Policy, as described in the procedures for hearing such cases. They will advise the chair on the hearing process, including such things as evidence and witnesses, and will be responsible for training and advising the panel members on the hearing process and for facilitating the hearing process. The Director of People Services will also serve as advisor to panels hearing cases involving employee relations in the same way she/he currently advises grievance committees. The Campus Conduct Hearing Board is also charged with ongoing review of procedures for reporting, investigating and acting on charges of sexual harassment, and with recommending to the President and the Executive Council any needed changes in those procedures.
Student Hearings
The Campus Conduct Hearing Board hears all suspendable nonacademic cases of student misconduct, including violations of the Student Conduct Regulations and misconduct arising in the student labor program or financial aid programs.
Cases of student misconduct are heard by a panel of three hearing officers including two staff or faculty members and one student. Any member of the Hearing Board may chair the hearing. Students may appeal Campus Conduct Hearing Board decisions to the Chair of Student Life Council. If the appeal is judged to have merit, the SLC Chair will constitute, from SLC membership, a hearing board consisting of two faculty or staff members and one student.
A member of the Student Life Council will also serve as a member of the Campus Conduct Hearing Board and will, along with the Residential Life Collegium Judicial Liaison, report annually to SLC regarding student hearings.