The Conduct Process

Residence Life Conduct Hearing: Center for Residence Life staff are authorized to issue the full range of statuses and conditions up to, but not including, removal from campus housing and separation from the university.

Student Conduct Hearing: Conduct Officers have the authority to impose a full range of statuses and conditions including suspension and expulsion.

Title IX Conduct Hearing: These hearings are for cases involving possible policy violation of C27.0 Policy on Title IX Sexual Harassment for Faculty, Staff, and Students as well as the D19.0 Student Gender-Based and Sexual Misconduct Policy and held in accordance with the provisions of those policies. Conduct Officers have the authority to impose a full range of statuses and condition including suspension and expulsion.

Good Samaritan Hearing: The Good Samaritan Protocol is designed to provide education rather than discipline when a student voluntarily contacts university personnel (e.g., Public Safety, Resident Advisor/Community Advocate) or outside emergency services for medical assistance related to alcohol or other drugs. Individuals covered by the Good Samaritan Protocol are the caller, the person in need of assistance, the host Student organization, and any witnesses named in the incident report.

If an incident meets the standards for a Good Samaritan Hearing, students will meet with a Residence Life staff or a Conduct Officer for a Good Samaritan Hearing. There will be no conduct status as an outcome of the meeting, but conditions such as alcohol and drug education, parental contact, and other educational seminars may be assigned.

Student Organization Conduct Hearing: When a Student Organization is charged with a policy violation, all correspondence from the Center of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution will be sent to the Organization’s President. The President will represent their Organization at the Conduct Hearing with a Conduct Officer and may invite other relevant members of the Organization to join them (such as Vice-President, Risk Management Chairperson, etc.) at the hearing. The Student Organization can request their Faculty Advisor to join them, and can also request a Conduct Advocate for additional support.

All conduct hearings held within the Center for Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution are audio recorded. Recordings will be retained in accordance with the C22.0 - RIT Records Management Policy. The recording of the conduct hearing is a university business record and the property of the university. 

Hearings can be video recorded upon request. A request for video recording must be made in writing 24 hours prior to the scheduled hearing. Video recording requests made with less than 24 hours' notice may be denied at the discretion of the Student Conduct Officer. All participants in the conduct hearing will give their consent to video recording. Any participant in the conduct hearing that chooses to not be video recorded will be audio recorded only.

All hearings under the Student Code of Conduct will be determined using the preponderance of evidence standard, which is established when all supporting documents of an incident provide information that a Student more likely than not violated the Code of Conduct.

Standard of proof

You have the right to choose an advocate to support you in the conduct process. An advocate is a knowledgeable faculty or staff member who can meet with you prior to your hearing and can support you during the hearing.

D18.0: Code of Conduct: Select from our list of advocates or use the Student Hearing Request Form to request that our office connect you with an advocate.

D19.0: Gender-Based and Sexual Misconduct: You will receive a Notice of Investigation letter from the Title IX Coordinator, and within that letter is a link to request a Title IX Conduct Advocate to assist with the Title IX Investigation Process. If you do not request anyone during the investigation phase, you will be automatically assigned a Title IX Conduct Advocate if and when there is a Title IX Conduct Hearing.

For Title IX Conduct hearings, students may opt to work with an Advisor of Choice instead of their Title IX Conduct Advocate.

Advocate and Advisor of Choice
 

You may request to meet with a conduct officer for a pre-hearing. At this time, the conduct officer will review the conduct process with you and answer any questions that you may have prior to the hearing.

A copy of the report and all available written documents are available upon your request.

You may bring witnesses to your hearing, upon approval by the hearing officer. You need to notify the Center for Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution at least three days prior to your hearing of your witnesses’ names and email addresses. Only witnesses with direct information who are part of the RIT community are allowed to participate. Character witnesses are not allowed.

Students who may require disability accommodations to effectively access the conduct process must apply for accommodations directly with the Disability Services Office, noting in the application form that their request relates directly to the RIT conduct process. Information on the accommodation request can be found on the Disability Services Office website.  

Students with existing approved accommodations may email DSO or reach out directly to their assigned Access Coordinator to have these accommodations communicated to staff who oversee the conduct process.

Written notice to a student or student organization that continued or further violations of any university policy, rule, or regulation within a specific period of time may result in an additional response from the university. Warnings may require specific conditions to be completed and can only be issued once.

Probationary periods indicate that a student or student organization is no longer in good standing with the university and that further violations during the probation (not to exceed two calendar years) may result in extension of the probationary period, additional conditions, suspension, or expulsion. During the period of probation, specific conditions may be assigned. All assigned conditions are required to be completed before their deadlines. If a student organization with a national affiliation (e.g., a Greek-letter organization) is found responsible for misconduct and is placed on a status of Probation, RIT will inform the national office of the decision.

Suspension is the immediate removal of the student’s affiliation with the university for a specific period of time, which includes exclusion from classes, university housing, and all other university activities. Suspended students are not allowed to be on campus for any reason during the period of suspension and may be arrested for trespassing if found on university property. Students returning from suspension have an initial restriction from living in campus housing and are placed on indefinite probation for the remainder of their time at RIT. Suspended student organizations may lose certain privileges, such as use of campus facilities, participation in university activities, use of allocated funds, recruitment, or new member education activities. If a student organization with a national affiliation (e.g., a Greek-letter organization) is found responsible for misconduct and is placed on a status of suspension, RIT will inform the national office of the decision. Specific conditions will be required to be completed prior to the student or student organization’s return. Once the term and the conditions of a suspension are completed, it is the responsibility of the Student to contact their academic college to discuss returning to that college.

Expulsion is a permanent involuntary separation of a student from the university. Under typical circumstances, readmission is not possible.

Similar to a Conduct Conversation where there was no policy violation but the behavior is of concern. A Title IX Conversation is a meeting with a Conduct Officer to discuss their behavior and review expectations and policies at RIT. A staff member from the Title IX team may be present to provide additional perspective on the Title IX policies and expectations at RIT.

The director of the Center for Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution or their designee, in their sole discretion, may determine that the Mutual Resolution of a case is appropriate.  In that case, the director or designee will discuss Mutual Resolution with both parties. If the parties accept to resolve a case through Mutual Resolution, the parties must voluntarily accept the outcomes regarding the findings of responsibility and related sanctions proposed by the director or designee, and waive their right to a hearing. The director or designee will provide the parties with a summary outlining the proposed finding of responsibility, related sanctions, and the rationale. The parties will then have three business (3) days to accept the Mutual Resolution, which must be signed by both parties and the director or designee. The signed Mutual Resolution may not be appealed.

If the director or designee does not offer a Mutual Resolution or either party declines a Mutual Resolution, the director or designee shall refer the case to a hearing.