Part of a weeklong series

Once a law has been violated in criminal trials, probation, jail time or fines may await the individual who broke the law.

But there are several sanctions for those who violate the university’s student conduct code and face an administrative hearing through the Office of Judicial Affairs.

Violations of the student conduct code could include anything from possession of alcohol under the legal age to possession of child pornography on a computer. Academic misconduct violations are also considered violations of the student conduct code.

Last year, the Office of Judicial Affairs handled 480 cases. The All Residence Judiciary system, which handles violations of Department of Residence policies and other minor violations of the university conduct code, handled 1,100 cases.

Once a violation has been made, students go through the steps of the Office of Judicial Affairs. In minor cases, students must appear before the All Residence Judiciary, the All Greek Judiciary or an Office of Judicial Affairs administrator for an administrative hearing, said Bethany Schuttinga, assistant dean of students for Judicial Affairs.

In major cases, students have three options: appearing before the All University Judiciary, made up of faculty, staff and students; waiving that right and having an administrative hearing; or appearing before an administrative law judge in Des Moines.

In all of these situations, the parties involved review the case and make a decision about what sanctions the student will face for violating the conduct code. The most common violation is an alcohol-related violation, Schuttinga said. She said if it is the first offense, the student involved normally appears before their hall director. The hall director has a right to impose a disciplinary reprimand, conduct probation or education. She said sometimes hall directors use a combination of the sanctions.

Sally Deters, residence life coordinator, said there are two types of alcohol violations typically seen in the residence halls. One type is a violation of the terms and conditions of the residence halls. She said this type of violation would be if a residence hall staff member found an empty alcohol container in a student’s residence hall room. This is a violation because it is against the terms and conditions to have alcohol containers, even if it is a decoration, she said.

Deters said violations of the terms and conditions usually result in a warning and a clarification of the residence hall policy.

The second type of alcohol violation is behavioral and a violation of the student conduct code. This type of violation occurs when students under the age of 21 consume alcohol. In this type of violation, students are usually given a disciplinary reprimand and asked to attend a class. If the case is more severe, the student may be given a disciplinary reprimand and sent to the Student Counseling Center for an alcohol assessment, Deters said.

“Many of our alcohol violations are combined with other violations,” she said. “Most of the students are exhibiting some behavior that says we need to knock on the door.”

According to the Student Disciplinary Regulations Handbook, a disciplinary reprimand is a written warning. Education may require the individual to participate in a class, activity or project that is relevant to the violation.

“A lot of first offense is education,” said Keith Bystrom, associate counsel for University Counsel. Bystrom said conduct probation is also a common sanction for student conduct code violations. In conduct probation, the student is put under review for a certain period during which they are required to follow university rules and regulations. Bystrom said students might also be restricted from certain areas on campus. For instance, he said if someone is always getting in trouble outside of Beyer Hall they might be prohibited from going to Beyer Hall for a period of time.

Schuttinga said conduct probation could range from one semester to a year.

Deferred suspension may also be a sanction in minor cases. This is a period of review during which, if students violate the student conduct code while under deferred suspension, they will be officially suspended from the university.

“We are not going to suspend you, but in effect we are saying if you don’t get your act together … then you are going to be suspended,” Bystrom said. He said the reason for deferred suspension instead of suspension is that in deferred suspension students are still able to get an education.

In major cases, suspension or expulsion may result. If a student is suspended from the university, a note indicating the suspension will appear on their transcript. In order to regain admission to the university, the student must petition to the Dean of Students.

Schuttinga said students could appeal any decision the Office of Judicial Affairs makes. She said most appeals relate to suspension cases.

“The number of appeals in relation to [the number of cases a year] are a handful,” Schuttinga said.