Office of Academic and Community Conduct

9. Resolution Options

9.1 Formal Pathway: Conduct Conference

Notice will be given to the RSO leadership when reasonable cause is present that an RSO may be in violation of this policy. A conduct meeting will be scheduled with the purpose being to provide all known and relevant information. The RSO is not required to respond to any allegations at this time.

After the conduct meeting, the RSO leadership will take all known information back to their constituents. The organization will have at least 3 business days, but no more than 5, to respond in writing to the allegations.

The RSO can respond in writing the following ways:

  1. Accept responsibility for the alleged violation(s) and request the Office of Academic and Community Conduct (OACC) to sanction and assign conditions. The RSO can appeal the sanction and/or conditions.
  2. Accept responsibility for the alleged violation(s) and request to enter into a negotiation of conditions and a suggestion of sanction. 
    1. Upon accepting responsibility, the RSO will also provide OACC suggestions of what they believe are appropriate, educational, and beneficial conditions based on the incident. They also will provide a suggestion of sanction. 
    2. OACC will review the suggestion and respond within 5 business days. OACC may reach out to Interfraternity Council or Panhellenic Council to consider their input as well when the case involves a Greek RSO.
    3. The RSO can accept the suggestion from OACC or request a final suggestion.
    4. After the final suggestion from the RSO, OACC has 5 business days to finalize the decision.
    5. The RSO can appeal the final decision.
  3. Choose not to respond to the charge. The case will then be referred for a formal hearing before the University Conduct Board.
  4. Deny responsibility for the violation(s), in which case, the official shall determine the next appropriate course of action from the following: 
  1. Schedule a formal hearing within a reasonable time in order to allow the respondent to prepare a response and/or to arrange for the complainant who filed the complaint to appear.
  2. Refer to a formal hearing before the University Conduct Board. If the board cannot convene, the Office of Academic and Community Conduct will arrange a formal hearing by a designated official.
  3. Adjourn the conference in order to obtain additional information, and then complete the conference at a later time after all additional information has been gathered and reviewed. 
  4. Dismiss the charges if it is decided after the initial conference that the cause no longer exists for the charge(s)

9.2 Informal Pathway:  RSO Intervention

After receiving a report, a University official may decide to schedule a meeting with the RSO leadership to discuss the alleged prohibited conduct. At the meeting, the official will: 

  • explain the purpose of the RSO intervention meeting; 
  • review the incident report and any impacts/harms to individuals and/or the community as a whole; 
  • listen to the RSO leadership’s explanation of what occurred and why; 
  • discuss community behavioral expectations and conflict resolution techniques; 
  • discuss the consequences of the student conduct process; 
  • assist the RSO in developing an action plan to: repair the impacts/harms to individuals and/or community; avoid recurring behavioral issues; make use of appropriate service referrals, as needed; reintegrate themselves back into the community; and/or 
  • refer the case for formal action at the request of the respondent.

So long as the matter remains a conduct intervention, there will be no formal conduct charges and therefore, no sanctions will be imposed and there is no right to an appeal. Cases handled as a conduct intervention will be kept as internal records and not disclosed.

The official has the authority to change handling the incident at the conduct intervention level to the administrative option or formal action, based on the information revealed in the conduct intervention meeting. Such actions may also be taken if the student fails to appear for the conduct intervention meeting. If a change is made, the respondent will receive the appropriate notice and opportunity to respond.