Prohibited Conduct
Students are required to engage in responsible conduct that reflects credit upon the College community and to model good citizenship. Students are expected to preserve College functions, maintain academic integrity, provide honest and accurate information, prevent harm to self or others, foster a safe community, protect and preserve College and personal property, and to adhere to published policies, contracts, and local, state and federal laws. Attempting or engaging in any of the following conduct is specifically prohibited under the Code and shall be the basis for required resolution and sanctions as set forth in the Code when a Respondent is found responsible for engaging in the prohibited conduct.
(1) Academic dishonesty which includes, but is not limited to, the following:
(a) Plagiarism defined as appropriating or incorporating any other person’s published or unpublished work in one’s own work without full, clear and correct acknowledgement.
(b) Copying from another person’s academic work without proper acknowledgment;
(c) Using unauthorized assistance or materials to complete an academic product or assignment;
(d) The unauthorized collaboration with any other person during the completion of independent academic work;
(e) Knowingly falsifying or assisting in falsifying in whole, or in part, the contents of one’s academic work;
(f) Permitting any other person to substitute oneself to complete academic work; or
(g) Engaging in any academic behavior specifically prohibited by a faculty member in the course covenant, syllabus, or class discussion.
(2) Conduct that obstructs or disrupts any College learning, teaching, research, administration, adjudicative process, public service functions or College-sponsored events or activities.
(3) Failure to be truthful to the College or a College official. This includes making false charges against another member of the College community; and providing false or misleading information in an application for admission, to gain employment, or in a College investigation, hearing or process.
(4) Forgery, alteration, or the misuse of College documents, records or identification cards.
(5) Failure to comply with the directions of College officials or other public official acting in the performance of his or her duties. This includes the failure to identify oneself to these persons when requested to do so.
(6) Physical abuse of any person including, but not limited to, physical assault with bodily injury or the threat of physical harm to another person;
(7) Harassment which is defined as unwelcome conduct directed at an individual that is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent such that it diminishes or interferes with the ability of the student to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or privileges provided by the College or an employee to engage in his or her work duties.
(8) Stalking defined as behavior in which a person repeatedly engages in a course of conduct directed at another person and places that person in reasonable fear for his or her safety, or the safety of his or her family.
(9) The recording of any private conversation, by any device, without the consent of all persons engaged in the conversation. For purposes of this section, the term “consent” shall be considered obtained only when one party has announced to all other parties engaged in the communication or conversation that such communication or conversation is about to be recorded or transmitted; and the announcement itself is recorded as part of the conversation or communication.
(10) Viewing, photographing, or filming another person without that person’s knowledge and consent, while the person being photographed, viewed or filmed is in a place where he or she would have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
(11) Possessing firearms or other dangerous weapons; the unauthorized use, possession or storage of any explosives, fireworks, dangerous chemicals, or substances; or the possession or use of any instrument designed to cause harm, or realistic replica of such instrument, which might reasonably threaten or cause fear or alarm to others.
(12) Unauthorized entry into or onto, or the unauthorized remaining in, or upon, any College premise; or the unauthorized possession, duplication, or use of a College key or other access device.
(13) Intentional sounding of a false alarm which includes, but is not limited to, initiating or causing to be initiated any false report, warning or threat, such as that of fire, explosion or emergency that intentionally causes a false emergency response; and the improper use or disabling of safety equipment and signs.
(14) Failure to evacuate during a fire alarm; the improper use or damaging of fire prevention or safety equipment, such as fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, alarm pull stations, or emergency exits; or the unauthorized setting of fires.
(15) The possession, use, manufacture, or distribution of alcohol except as expressly permitted by law or College policy; or public appearance on College premises while intoxicated. Alcoholic beverages may not, in any circumstance, be used, possessed, or consumed by, or distributed to, any person under the legal age.
(16) Possession, use, manufacture, cultivation, packaging, distribution, selling, or the providing of an illegal substance, or any controlled substance as identified in RCW 69.50; or the possession or use of drug paraphernalia as defined in RCW 69.50.102; use of a prescription drug other than as prescribed, use of a prescription drug not issued to the student, or the distribution or sale of a prescription drug to a person to whom the prescription was not originally issued; or public appearance while under the influence of a controlled or illegal substance.
(17) Damaging, defacing, destroying, or tampering with, College property or other personal or public property. This includes but is not limited to graffiti and vandalism.
(18) The attempted or actual theft of property or services. This includes, but is not limited to, taking, attempting to take, possessing, or aiding another to take College property or services, or property belonging to any person, without express permission.
(19) Sexual Misconduct which includes the following:
(a) The actual or attempted sexual intercourse or sexual contact that is forced upon another without the consent of that person. Consent means that at the time of the act of sexual intercourse or sexual contact there are actual words or conduct indicating a voluntary and mutually understandable agreement between the parties to have sexual intercourse or sexual contact. Consent may not be given or granted when one’s capacity for effective decision making has been diminished by the use of alcohol or drugs, or a person is unconscious, or is experiencing some other cognitive impairment. Sexual misconduct can occur with any combination of genders, gender expressions and sexual orientations.
(b) The photographing or filming of the intimate areas of another person without that person’s knowledge and consent and under circumstances where the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, whether in a public or private place. (c) The indecent exposure of a person’s genitals, for the gratification of the person engaged in such exposure, when done in a place where such exposure is likely to be an offense against generally accepted standards of decency.
(20) Failure to respond to any notice to appear for a meeting as part of the student conduct process and failure to comply with or violation of the Contract of Accountability, a Required Resolution and Sanction, conditions in an Interim Suspension, Final Determination, or any agreement made during the conduct process.
(21) Failure to ensure that a guest adheres to the Code.
(22) Violation of any College policy including, but not limited to, Residential and Dining Services policies.
(23) Hazing which includes any activity or method of initiation into a student social, living, learning, or athletic group that causes, or is likely to cause, bodily danger or physical, mental, or emotional harm to any member of the College community.
(24) Tampering with the election of any student organization or group.
(25) Accusation of an alleged violation of federal, state, or local law by law enforcement, or conviction of a felony or misdemeanor, under circumstances where it is reasonable to conclude that the presence of the person on College premises would constitute a danger to the health, or personal safety of members of the College community.
(26) Knowingly assisting another person to violate the Code or failing to intervene with a violation by, at a minimum, bringing the action to the attention of College officials.
Section (14) includes “failure to properly evacuate” along with “improper use or damaging of fire prevention or safety equipment” and “unauthorized setting of fires”. Why is improper evacuation something that the school wants to discipline students for? If someone doesn’t evacuate and something happens to them, isn’t that their fault?
The College is concerned about students who deliberately ignore evacuation messages/alarms and remain in facilities. This is not uncommon and because it is such a serious health and safety concern it is listed in the Code. If a student were unable to leave a building during an emergency it is unlikely they would be alleged to have violated the Code.
This whole section is extremely troubling. What was wrong with the old section? This one is long and adds a lot of bullshit. Like bullshit about lying to school officials and failing to tell on your friends as being prohibitive conduct. What about your right to remain silent? It is yet another targeted offense against activists. Like the subtle slide in on the firearms in section 11 to include “realistic replica of such instrument, which might reasonably threaten or cause fear or alarm to others.” Way to target the kickass IVAW and Israeli troop street theatre although I don’t see anything in there that says grossly deformed dead fetus images and harassment of females in redsquare as being prohibited under the sexual harassment section. Pure hypocrisy.
I also dislike this election tampering line. Was that a problem before? Was that allowed before? I don’t think it was but now that it is written in will the administration stop interfering in elections by spending money lobbying for their pet construction projects? I doubt it. How about a rule that instead says that the college must provide all funds for an election and they must be offered at equal levels for both sides or all candidates and that the administration is not allowed to participate at all besides paying all costs fully and encouraging turnout goals of 100%.
This is such an ugly fearful section. I’d rather depend on common law.
[I hate using caps to emphasize things because it seems like I’m shouting. I only use them because italics are not available.]
Sections 25 and 26 seem troubling.
Section 25 seems to state that the mere ACCUSATION of a crime by law enforcement could be prohibited conduct. Though I have been told that this section code is intended to apply to people who are accused of crimes where it is important to act before cases are finished, what would prevent this section being used to target those falsely accused of crimes?
How would this protect the rights of students like the ones falsely accused of riot on Thursday evening? A “reasonable” person could certainly conclude that rioters are dangerous and since the students have been accused– but not convicted– of riot, they could reasonably conclude that the “rioters” are dangerous. The charges will ultimately not stand in court, but this section could conceivably be used to exclude them from campus anyway. Unfortunately, the assurance offered in the FAQ (http://www.evergreen.edu/committee/studentconduct/docs/faq_april8_2010.pdf) are meaningless. What specific language will be added to the code so that the rights of students will be protected even when a reasonable person could conclude from ACCUSATIONS about their conduct in protests that the students would pose a danger to the campus?
Does section 26 actually require a person to tell police when he or she witnesses an illegal act occurring? Along with affording people the freedom to speak relatively freely, the First Amendment affords people the right NOT to speak. How does section 26 of the code fit with this standard? Could students really be punished for exercising their constitutional rights?
Why has smoking outside of designated areas been removed as prohibited conduct?
The DTF is recommending that the Code not highlight that paticular policy violation, rather that it is adequately covered by #22 “Violation of any College policy inlcuding, but not limited to, Residential and Dining Services policies.”
Nate,
You raise good questions. #25 could be used to address conduct related to an alleged crime, however if it occurred off-campus it must be the criteria delineated in Jurisdiction. The situational context is always considered when determining if someone might cause harm to others on campus as a result of off-campus conduct. It is highly unlikely that the students’ conduct downtown on April 8th would be addressed via the Code because it is unreasonable to think that their presence on campus could result in the same dynamics that may have occurred during their protest.
Your concern with #26 is also reasonable. I am consulting with others to respond to your question about whether or not this standard is a violation of a student’s constitutional rights. I will follow-up soon.