Trinity University

What to Make of the Conduct Board Statistics for the Fall...

Event you don't want to miss...
Speaker Mark Sterner will be here in March to talk about his own tragic experiences with alcohol. How good is this program? The Greek Council asked to have Mr. Sterner back and has received funding from ASR. Hold the date: It is March 3, 2010 in Laurie Auditorium. Sponsored by Greek Council.
 
Why a conduct report?
As the Dean of Students I think transparency and communication from my office to students is important. In the area of student conduct, it is important that rules, procedures and consequences are viewed as shared rather than imposed. In the last five years there have been two thorough reviews of policies and procedures by committees of students, faculty, and staff. In the second review, few adjustments were made. In general, the conduct process has been seen as respectful and educational. But we are always working to improve. It is important that students understand their rights, that they live by the standards of those in their community, and that they can learn from others. Thus, this report is published every semester.

Making sense of the fall statistics...
As was the case in the fall of 2009, there have been around 40 cases referred for action. The cases primarily are referred to the Student Conduct Board. Two cases were handled by the University Conduct Board (because of their sensitive nature) and four were handled by Residential Life as allowed by policy. Those four cases were simple, low-level alcohol cases.

In brief, there was an increase of students being referred for conduct hearings related to alcohol. It was an increase from last fall from 54 referrals to 93 referrals. As is fairly standard, half or fewer of the students were found responsible. This is because all people present in a case are referred so the Conduct Board, not the staff, is making decisions about responsibility. If you ever hear "Conduct Board always finds you responsible," know that it isn't true. In fact, it isn't even close.

While drug cases appear to be down, there was actually an increase in findings of responsibility from three to 16.

Respect for Community infractions are lower than in the last two fall semesters. This is a good thing. Most violations in this category are a result of collateral behavior: hiding in closets and bathrooms; jumping balconies; being belligerent to staff, etc. As I have written before, if confronted for alleged violations, students can make things so much easier by being cooperative and respectful.

Note on alcohol: Playing beer pong increases the chance that the staff will have to investigate conduct. Yelling phrases such as "YES, now chug," will also often catch the attention of the staff.

Alcohol off campus: The times are changing?
The Greek Council and the Student Affairs staff is working to find a way to encourage responsible behavior at off campus parties. Under review are parties at private homes. The practice has been to enforce policy violations by groups. This has led to students keeping these parties hushed up for fear of organizational accountability. We are exploring reversing this approach. The University does not have off campus housing for clubs, teams, and Greek organizations on purpose. We need to take advantage of that practice by treating parties off campus as isolated private events. This is not easy to do, but we have the seeds of a policy in place that shifts accountability from groups to individuals and that extends the spirit of the responsible friend policy to groups and people off campus. Look for more on this in the spring.

Responsible Friend policy continuing to grow.
This fall, eight potentially dangerous situations were diffused because students contacted helping professionals for assistance. Nearly 20 students were affected by this responsible action. Again, the University cares far more about student health and safety than about racking up cases. Doing the right thing to protect fellow students is an important part of our community. Thanks to all who have taken advantage of this policy.

Interested in alcohol?
Contact Ben Newhouse at Ben.Newhouse@trinity.edu to be a part of the Trinity Alcohol Coalition this spring. This group reviews policies and procedures and checks to ensure that what we say and do is in sync.

In the Spring Report
The fate of the Tigers den...
Off-campus policies clarified
Sexual assault update

Comments and questions, e-mail Dean of Students David Tuttle at dtuttle@trinity.edu.

	Fall 2010			Fall 2009
Type of Violation	Total # of Charges	Responsible	Not Responsible	Total # of Charges	Responsible	Not Responsible
Administrative Order	0	0	0	1	1	0
Alcohol	93	38	55	54	37	17
Alcohol 2	6	6	0	8	5	3
Alcohol 3	1	1	0	3	2	1
Applicable Use Policy	0	0	0	1	1	0
Drugs	17	16	1	20	3	17
Drugs 2	0	0	0	1	0	1
Excessive Noise	25	25	0	1	1	0
Excessive Noise 3	0	0	0	1	1	0
Guests/Visitation	0	0	0	1	1	0
Harassment	0	0	0	2	2	0
Hazing	0	0	0	0	0	0
Misc. Safety Regulations	0	0	0	3	1	2
Personal Responsibility	1	1	0	2	2	0
Respect for Community	28	18	10	60	40	20
Respect for Comm. 2	1	1	0	1	1	0
Respect for Others	6	2	4	16	10	6
Respect for Property	2	2	0	7	7	0
Respect for Self	0	0	0	1	0	1
Sexual Misconduct	1	1	0	1	1	0
Smoking	4	2	2	0	0	0
Weapons	1	0	1	0	0	0
Totals	186	113	73	184	116	68