ISU Bengal

Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: News

In high school it was the principal or vice principal that was responsible for dealing with students who violated school policies. At ISU, however, it is the Student Affairs Office that undertakes the task of dealing with students that violate the Universities Code of Conduct.

"I personally haven't suspended anyone yet," said Jim Fullerton, director of the Leadership Program and interim student conduct officer in the SAO. "We have a very well behaved student body."

Although Fullerton hasn't personally suspended any students, some student conduct officers in the SAO have. The office deals with over 100 cases of inappropriate student conduct per year. The top four violations are academic dishonesty, parking pass fraud, alcohol violations, and cases involving verbal or written abuse.

With regards to academic dishonesty, each violation is handled differently, according to the SAO. Individual professors handle some cases, and have full discretion over the disciplinary action against the student. They have an array of possible actions that they can impose, from requiring an assignment to be redone, to dismissing a student from a class and giving them a failing grade.

"We don't typically see those cases," Fullerton said.

In cases of parking pass fraud, which has been a recent problem at ISU, two ISU agencies handle the issue: the Department of Public Safety and the SAO. When a patrol officer notices a fraudulent parking pass, or one that has been altered, a $75 ticket is issued. By way of comparison, a full year's parking pass costs $45.

After a ticket has been issued, the student is asked to make an appointment with the SAO, during which they are allowed to present their side of the story. At this point, the student conduct officer dealing with the case will make a determination of the severity of the offense, and the appropriate punishment that should be enacted. After the ticket is paid, many students simply receive a verbal warning, but more serious offenses can lead to conduct probation, disciplinary probation, or suspension.

Some offenses like alcohol consumption on campus or drunk and disorderly conduct receive conduct probation immediately. Conduct probation is a sanction made by the State Board of Education that must be followed by all universities in the state. Students are then required to attend an alcohol class. If a similar offense occurs again, the student is placed on disciplinary probation, and must submit to a substance abuse evaluation at his or her own expense.

The third most often seen violation of verbal or written abuse is a little more complicated.

"It's either a personal dispute between people that know each other or it's a reaction to somebody thinking they've been treated unfairly, and they blow up," Fullerton said. "Generally our campus is a very civil campus, certainly compared to other universities of our size."

Fullerton encouraged Students to get to know the ISU Code of Conduct in order to know what types of conduct to avoid.

"(Students) are not aware of the Student Code of Conduct," Fullerton said. "We are using the Character Counts format to remind students that these principles are important."

The Character Counts pillars are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship, according to Fullerton.

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