About the Student Conduct Process & Procedures

Residential Life’s student conduct procedures are intended to be educational rather than punitive. It is our goal to address all behavior that violates the CCA Residential Community Standards and Policies and engage residents in a dialogue about the decisions and choices they make.

We aim to help residents develop a respect for the community standards and policies as well as an understanding of how individual behavior affects the residential community. The Residential Life staff encourages individual community members to take responsibility for their choices and actions and assist us in maintaining a positive living environment for all.

Members of the Residential Life staff frequently begin the student conduct disciplinary process by documenting behavior that appears to violate campus and residential policies. Incident reports document events relating to possible violations of the CCA Residential Community Standards and Policies, the Housing License Agreement, or the CCA Code of Conduct, or a combination thereof.

Incident reports can be written by any member of the CCA community. They record the writer’s perception of events. In most cases, any student(s) involved in the incident are informed of the report. All students are later given an opportunity to respond to the event.

Step 1

Incident reports related to the residence halls are submitted to a Residential Life’s Chief Student Conduct Hearing Officer.

Step 2

Once the Residential Life Chief Student Conduct Hearing Officer receives the report they will send a formal request to all students named in the report asking them to schedule an informational meeting to discuss: (1) the student process; (2) the student's rights and responsibilities as a student; and (3) how to make choices regarding their alleged violation

(To protect students’ right to privacy and ensure orderly procedures, individual meetings are typically closed.)

Step 3

The student(s) is asked to accept or deny responsibility for the alleged violations.

Step 4

The student(s) is asked to choose between an administrative review or an administrative hearing:

• An administrative review is held immediately following the informational meeting with the Residential Life student conduct hearing officer.

• An administrative hearing typically occurs when the student involved believes major factual disputes exist in the incident report or he or she requests a witness be present for the hearing, or both. This meeting will not occur immediately following the informational meeting; it will be rescheduled with the director of Residential Life (or a designated person).

If a student named in the incident report chooses not to schedule a meeting with the Residential Life student conduct hearing officer, or fails to attend a scheduled meeting, determination of responsibility and sanctions may proceed without the student's input.

Depending on the severity of the incident and the conduct history of the student(s) involved, sanctions may range from warnings to cancellation of housing. It is the role of the Residential Life student conduct hearing officer to determine a sanction that best helps the student(s) learn from the incident and deter future policy violations.

All appeals to the decision of the Residential Life student conduct hearing officer should be made in writing to the director of Residential Life within five business days of the dated sanction letter.

If the college finds the alleged violations to the CCA Residential Community Standards & Policies, the Housing License Agreement, or the CCA Code of Conduct repeated or unusually serious in nature, incidents may be referred to the director of Residential Life adjudication according to the procedures for nonacademic offenses detailed in the Student Handbook.

Residential Disciplinary Sanctions

The college is not obligated to follow any set progressive disciplinary sanctions. Students determined by a Residential Life student conduct hearing officer who have violated the residential standards of conduct may face one or more of the following actions:

Sanctions In order to educate the student, restitution, fines, community service, or other appropriate sanctions are levied. Students may also be required to pay for and complete an online drug and alcohol education course.

Educational sanctions such as these are intended to provide new information and insight about the student’s choices and behavior and the consequences they create for the student and the residential community. Such sanctions are designed based on the individual educational needs of the student.

Written warning The Residential Life student conduct hearing officer notifies the student in writing that more serious penalties will be forthcoming if misconduct continues.

Housing probation While under the terms of housing probation, the student faces removal from housing if he or she violates residential policies again during the probationary period.

Housing cancellation The student is no longer permitted to live in or visit campus housing. Students whose housing is revoked as a result of their violations of any college policy remain liable for all residential fees for the balance of the academic year.

Referral to the campus student conduct process The student is referred to the director of student life (or other designated person) for student conduct action or further sanctions on the campus level.

Referral for prosecution The student is referred to the appropriate civil authority.