Cases Involving Student Organizations

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һ�� is committed to managing all cases that involve alleged violations of university policy by student organizations with appropriate care and sensitivity. In these cases, the university may need to invoke additional procedural provisions to determine responsibility for alleged policy violation(s) by a recognized student organization. Recognized student organizations include groups that are given recognition by a college, department or governing body on campus. Recognized student organizations have certain privileges and use of campus resources (e.g. funding (university or student fees), use of designated spaces, participation in campus activities, ability to utilize university systems, etc).

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Community Standards Meetings for Student Organizations

A student organization representative(s) is expected to meet with a university adjudicator to attempt to resolve alleged violation(s) of university community standards by a student organization. A successful Community Standards Meeting will include the following:

The facts must be determined. The organization representative(s) must agree that essential facts related to the incident are undisputed.
A violation of community standards must be determined. The organization representative(s) must agree that what occurred during the incident was a violation of the university's community standards.
A proposed outcome or set of outcomes must be determined. The organization representative(s) and adjudicator must jointly agree about what outcome or set of outcomes will be proposed for resolution of the matter, taking into account, where appropriate, the concerns of the reporting party.

The aforementioned proposed outcome or set of outcomes will be reviewed by the Community Standards Review Committee. If approved, the organization representative(s) will receive notification in writing confirming the determined action, which then becomes final. If agreement on the appropriate action cannot be reached, the matter may be referred to the Community Responsibility Panel for review.

Should a student organization be non-responsive to notification of an alleged violation of the university's community standards, after a reasonable period of time and having made reasonable attempts to contact the appropriate organization representative, the university adjudicator may make a determination regarding responsibility and assign restorative outcomes and/or a period of community status warning based on the information available. Consistent with Community Standards Meeting procedures, this determination will be forwarded to the Community Standards Review Committee for approval. Violations that may result in loss of university recognition and where the student organization is non-responsive will be referred to the Community Responsibility Panel for resolution.

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Conduct of Community Responsibility Panels for Student Organizations

The university attempts to ensure fair, timely and orderly procedures in all community standards reviews. To provide for this, the university has adopted the following procedures that govern the Community Responsibility Panel process for student organizations:

In cases where the university receives information describing behaviors that may violate university policy and the impacted party chooses not to serve as a complainant in a community standards proceeding, the university may act as a complainant when there exists a broader or overriding community interest. Notwithstanding the fact that the impacted party wishes not to serve as complainant, they may nevertheless act as a witness in a Community Responsibility Panel.

In cases where the university receives information describing behaviors that may violate university policy, the university reserves the right to temporarily restrict any and all activities and operations of the organization while the case is being investigated and/or resolved through the appropriate process.
No more than two student members may represent an organization in a community standards proceeding.
The Community Responsibility Panel may review both individual member and organizational allegations concurrently. It is recommended that members responding to individual allegations do not also represent the organization in the same Community Responsibility Panel.
The university reserves the right to share periodic updates related to process, timeline, findings, and resolution of the case with appropriate parties including organization advisors, the sponsoring academic unit, (inter)national organization headquarters, and/or recognizing body (e.g. Student Government or appropriate Governing Councils), etc.
Unless a different timeline is set forth in this section, stated timelines for a Community Responsibility Panel and notification of a decision will be followed in cases involving student organizations.
The Community Responsibility Panel may recommend as an outcome of the organizational review, that an individual or individuals be charged with specific policy violations to be reviewed via a subsequent community standards process.
In cases that involve student organizations, complaints will be considered for a period of four years following the date of the most recent allegation. Complaints received more than two years following the date of the most recent allegation may be reviewed upon the approval of the associate vice president for community standards and diversity initiatives.
In cases that involve student organizations, the complainant will receive notification of disposition of the allegation(s) to the degree that individual privacy is not impacted.
Consistent with Pennsylvania state law, the university will issue and electronically publish a biannual report of all reported hazing violations. Biannual hazing reports are retained for at least five years.

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Hearing Preparation and Scheduling

The logistics of hearing preparation and scheduling will be coordinated by a process advisor in the Office of Community Responsibility.
The student organization representative(s) must be notified in writing of the specific policy, standard or regulation the student organization has allegedly violated. Such notification is normally made at least seven calendar days before the hearing.
Throughout the community standards process, the student organization representative(s) will receive full notification of complaint, notification of any hearing and notification of disposition of the charge and will have the opportunity to be present throughout the hearing process.
The complainant will receive full notification of the complaint, notification of any hearing, and will have the opportunity to be present throughout the hearing process.
Prior to the hearing, the individuals involved will be asked if they believe that the potential Community Responsibility Panel members are aware of any significant relationship or interaction that might impair their ability to render an objective recommendation for resolution of the matter under review. The process advisor will consider this in seating the panel for the hearing.
Written introductions are an opportunity for either party to offer their initial thoughts and general sentiments about the allegations under review by the Community Responsibility Panel.
During process advisement, the complainant and respondent will be provided a hearing packet, which may include, among other relevant items: the initial complainant report; any investigation reports and/or witness statements; a written introduction from the complainant(s) to the panel; and a written introduction from the respondent(s) to the panel. This packet may be used for the purpose of preparing for or use during the hearing, consistent with the privacy rights of those involved. These materials are to be kept private and may be shared only with permission from the process advisor. These documents may not be duplicated nor utilized for any other purpose.
In advance of the hearing, the members of the Community Responsibility Panel will be provided a hearing packet, which may include, among other relevant items: the initial complainant report; any investigation reports and/or witness statements; a written introduction from the complainant(s) to the panel; and a written introduction from the respondent(s) to the panel. Panel members are expected to keep the information reviewed during a Community Responsibility Panel confidential.
Complainant(s) and respondent(s) may submit up to three written letters of support at a date specified by the process advisor for consideration only during the outcomes phase of the proceeding in the event that the respondent is found responsible.
It is the responsibility of the Office of Community Responsibility to ensure that times set for hearings are reasonable and that necessary accommodations have been offered to both the complainant and respondent whenever appropriate. In turn, both the complainant and respondent will be expected to demonstrate good faith efforts in their participation with this process, particularly in relation to the scheduling of the hearing. In a case involving exigent circumstances that prevent the complainant or respondent from participating in a scheduled hearing, the hearing will be rescheduled.
Every effort will be made to avoid conflicts with a student’s class schedule when identifying a hearing date and time. When circumstances warrant, classroom attendance, except for scheduled examinations, will not be a reasonable excuse for delaying a hearing.
In the rare circumstance where a respondent fails to make a good faith effort to participate in the process, the university (having made reasonable attempts to accommodate the respondent) may elect to schedule and conduct a hearing without the student organizations participation.
Allegations stemming from multiple incidents indicating an alleged pattern of behavior may be collectively reviewed by a single Community Responsibility Panel at the discretion of the Community Standards Review Committee.
Both the complainant and respondent have the right to have one support person of their choosing present at the hearing. Both parties are required to notify the process advisor of their support person of choice at a date specified by the process advisor that will be at least three days in advance. If legal counsel will serve in this capacity, a representative of the University’s Office of General Counsel will typically be present for the hearing to provide assistance to the Community Responsibility Panel, moderator, and/or process advisor as needed. Legal counsel or any other support person, if present, will not be permitted to participate in the proceedings but may advise the respondent or the complainant and/or be present at a hearing. In the event that one party to a case is accompanied by legal counsel without advance notice, a hearing may be postponed until all parties to the case have had an opportunity to have counsel present. Registered support persons are not permitted to participate as witnesses in the same hearing.
Both the complainant and respondent have the opportunity to register witnesses. Witnesses should be able to provide direct information related to the alleged violations being reviewed by the Community Responsibility Panel, such as direct observation of the incident in question and/or direct interaction with any of the parties before, during or after the incident in question. Both parties are required to notify the process advisor of their registered witnesses at a date specified by the process advisor that will be at least three days in advance of the Community Responsibility Panel.
The university reserves the right to supplement the registered witness list at any time to ensure that the panel has access to all potential witnesses with substantive information. Both the complainant and respondent will be promptly notified of any changes to the registered witness list.
In scheduling a Community Responsibility Panel, consideration should be given to allow witnesses significant to the case being heard are available to the panel. If a witness is not available to be called by the panel in person or via telecommunication, they may submit a written statement to the process advisor to be reviewed if the panel requests information from the witness.

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Panel Process and Procedures

Information provided during a Community Responsibility Panel should remain private.
In order to maintain a fair and equitable process, no new materials will be accepted on the day of the hearing, with the exception of (i) oral testimony and (ii) such other information as may be necessary to rebut new oral testimony. Information offered as rebuttal will only be accepted at the discretion of the moderator.
All proceedings before a panel, except the deliberation of the panel, will be recorded. The audio or audiovisual (if available) recording will be kept in accordance with community standards records retention practices.
During the actual hearing, a student organization representatives have the right to be present when information relative to the case is being presented. In the community standards process, student organization representative(s) has the right to remain silent.
The moderator will remind all persons present at the opening of each community standards hearing that the purpose of a Community Responsibility Panel is to determine an appropriate response, through a deliberative process, when a violation of policy, standard or regulation is alleged. The complainant(s) and respondent(s) will each be limited to ten minutes for their introduction.
The majority of the proceeding will consist of questioning from the panel members for all parties as well as the registered witnesses that are called by the panel. The complainant(s) and respondent(s) will also have the opportunity to present questions for the panel’s consideration.
It is within the discretion of the panel to determine whether they wish to hear from the registered witnesses. Witnesses will be questioned one at a time by the panel and subsequently dismissed. They should only be present in the room when providing information to the panel. Except in documented extenuating circumstances, students are expected to make a good-faith effort to provide information to the Community Responsibility Panel when called as a witness.
The complainant(s) and respondent(s) will each be limited to five minutes for their summary.
All materials provided to the complainant(s) and respondent(s) (including those provided electronically) must be returned to the process advisor at the conclusion of the hearing. Copies of these materials may not be retained or used for any other purpose.
Following the complainant and respondent summary, the panel will enter closed deliberations. A more likely than not standard (preponderance of the evidence) will be used to determine if a university policy, standard or regulation was violated. If responsibility is determined, the panel will also make a recommendation for appropriate outcomes.
If the Community Responsibility Panel proceeding is to determine responsibility, no information about a student organization’s prior community standards record will be shared with the Community Responsibility Panel until a determination of responsibility has been made. If a Community Responsibility Panel proceeding is to determine outcome(s) only (ie. the student organization has accepted responsibility), priors will be shared with the panel as part of the hearing packet. For student organizations, the prior four academic years will be considered the term for priors for community standards records. The following information will be shared with the panel: community standards violation(s) for which the student organization was found responsible, date of incident(s), brief summary, outcome(s), and status of the case(s). The student organization representative(s) and complainant may be recalled before the panel to discuss the prior violations and outcomes prior to the Community Responsibility Panel making a recommendation for appropriate outcomes for the present case.

Panel Outcome Determination and Notifications

A representative of the Office of Community Responsibility will be responsible for notifying the associate vice president of student affairs for community life or designee in writing of the recommendation of the panel regarding responsibility and any outcomes deemed appropriate.
The associate vice president of student affairs for community life or designee makes the decision in the case, informed by the recommendation of the Community Responsibility Panel. The associate vice president of student affairs for community life or designee may accept, reject, or modify the recommendation, or may remand the matter to a new Community Responsibility Panel for review.
After reviewing the recommendations, the associate vice president of student affairs for community life or designee will render a decision in writing. The decision letter will typically be delivered to the respondent(s) by the process advisor.
Community standards records of student organizations are retained for a period of seven years following the conclusion of the resolution process. The record may be maintained indefinitely if a student organization has not fulfilled all outcomes or has not resolved pending community standards allegations. Records of community standards processes that result in the temporary loss of recognition from the university will be maintained for a period of seven years after the organization receives recognition once the loss of university recognition period has concluded. Records of community standards processes that result in the permanent loss of recognition from the university will be maintained indefinitely.

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