Honor Principle and Code of Conduct Violation Procedures

Policy Statement

1. Notification of the charges against a student shall be in writing and shall contain a concise statement of the alleged facts which constitute the violation. At this time, the student will be asked if they would like to respond to the Dean of the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies about these charges, either in person or in writing.

2. A student shall have a reasonable time to respond to the notification of charges.

3. A student may choose to admit to the charges as stated. In such cases the Dean will determine the appropriate penalty. If the student does not admit to the charges stated, the Dean will conduct a hearing with a committee to review the case.

4. This committee will consist of three graduate faculty, the Dean and Assistant Dean, and background evidence related to the issue may be provided to the committee prior to the hearing.

5. A student may choose an advisor, from current Dartmouth faculty, staff, or students, to assist in the defense at a disciplinary hearing. The advisor's role is to assist the student in reviewing and understanding the procedures related to a hearing and to assist the student in obtaining answers to questions about the hearing. For this reason, many students request one of their department's faculty or staff familiar with the disciplinary system serve as their advisors. While an advisor might appropriately help a student anticipate questions and issues likely to arise at a hearing, or provide feedback about the effectiveness of a student's written or oral presentation of the facts, the advisor does not function in the way an attorney would in a criminal or civil proceeding.

6. The student may elect to have a private hearing or an open hearing, but the Dean may limit the number of persons at an open hearing, and may, if a disturbance occurs, order the hearing to be conducted in private. In cases where the need to protect privacy is, in the judgment of the Dean, important, the Dean may close the hearing over the objection of the charged student(s).

7. A student may refuse to make any statement at the hearing. Such refusal shall not be considered as evidence against the student.

8. The student shall have the right to hear and question any witnesses and to examine all other evidence introduced at the hearing. The student has the right to testify and present evidence and witnesses on his/her own behalf.

9. The Dean shall base decisions on matters of fact and solely upon evidence introduced at the hearing.

10. Formal rules of evidence shall not apply. The Dean may consider any testimony or evidence unduly repetitious or immaterial, or to have been improperly obtained.

11. The student will be informed, in writing, of the Dean's decision within a reasonable time (no more than one week after the hearing).

12. If the results of the disciplinary hearing are to become a part of a student's record, either temporarily or permanently, notice shall be given to the student concerned.

13. Requests for review may be made only on the basis of either or both of the following grounds:

• a. procedural error which has materially prejudiced the student's case;
• b. newly discovered information which, had it been available at the time of the hearing, would likely have affected the outcome either with regard to a finding of responsibility or with regard to the sanction imposed (if the information was not reasonably available to the student at the time of the proceeding).

The Dean of the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies has the sole discretion to determine whether these grounds for review have been met. A request for review must be in writing and must set forth in reasonable detail the grounds for review, and must have attached to it any materials the student wishes to have considered in their request. The request, with all accompanying materials, must be submitted by the student to the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies within seven (7) days of the date the decision is written.

14. Decisions by the Dean may be revealed to authorized College personnel, to the charged student, and, in appropriate circumstances, to the charged student's parents or guardian and the victim/complainant. In cases where the outcome will affect the visa status of an international student, the Dartmouth International Office will be notified by the appropriate registrar, and the student must comply with any change in federal immigration status which occurs.

15. The Dean hearing a case may choose to comment publicly, in writing or otherwise, regarding the decision reached if, in the judgment of the Dean, the best interests of the community would be served by such disclosure. If possible and appropriate, the anonymity of the student(s) involved will be protected.