Student Handbook 2017-18 > Honor Code and Related Processes > Honor Code > 4. Honor Code procedures

4. Honor Code procedures

4.1 Procedural definitions

Honor Board: The Honor Board consists of the Chair, Vice Chair, and 6 general members. Each class must have at least one representative. There is also a staff and faculty representative to the Honor Board and an Advisor.

Honor Board Leadership: The Honor Board Leadership consists of the Chair, Vice Chair, and the Advisor. The Chair does administrative tasks and works with the rest of the Honor Board to assist in Hearing and administrative processes. The Vice Chair assists the Chair in their duties. The Chair and Vice Chair are voting members of the Student Government. The Advisor is the Dean of Student Affairs or their designee.

Hearing Panel: The Hearing Panel consists of four persons selected by the Investigative Team and Chair from the appropriately trained members of the Hearing Panel Pool. The Hearing Panel has sole decision-making power in Responsibility Hearings and Sanction Setting Hearings.

Hearing Panel Pool: The Hearing Panel Pool is a set of enrolled students who have been trained in the Honor Board procedures and feel comfortable in their skills to hear a Case that comes to the Board.

Investigative Team: The Investigative Team consists of the Advisor and two members of the Honor Board that investigate and facilitate Report proceedings.

Moderator: A member of the Investigative Team responsible for moderating discussions of all Hearings as the result of a Report.

Recorder: A member of the Investigative Team responsible for recording the proceedings and discussion during a Hearing.

Reporter: The person(s) filing the Report.

Reported: The person(s) listed on the Report as violating the Honor Code.

Report: A written notification of a violation of the Honor Code. May take the form of a “General” and “Streamlined Academic”

General Report: Any report of the violation of the Honor Code or the college’s procedures excluding reports of violations of Title IX which can be submitted as a Report to the Title IX Coordinator and/or relevant authorities. Please visit this link to report a Title IX.

Streamlined Academic Report: Reports of an academic violation where a conclusion has been reached and is sent to the Honor Board for review.

Hearing: The time in which the Reporter, Reported, Investigative Team, Hearing Panel, and Advisor to the Honor Board meets to determine responsibility and set sanctions, if deemed appropriate.

Responsibility: Acceptance of one’s actions, refers to confirming the violations listed on a Report.

Sanction: The consequence assigned to the Reported based upon finding of Responsibility and nature of the violation as determined by the Hearing Panel.

Witnesses/Advisors: Both the reporter and the reported can call witnesses and advisors to assist them throughout the Hearing. Witnesses are people who have knowledge of the event and advisors are people who support the reporter or reported in the Hearing.

Aggrieved Parties: The Investigative Team can determine that there are one or more aggrieved parties, in addition to the reporter, who have been substantively aggrieved by the violation beyond any grievance suffered by the Olin community as a whole.

Appeals Board: This group is convened to review all information available pertaining to hearings and proceedings that have led to an Appeal. Their purpose is to ensure that such proceedings were conducted according to the established procedures as written in the Honor Code.

Faculty Representative: A member of the faculty who attends Honor Board meetings and is a member of the Appeals Board.

Staff Representative: A member of the staff who attends Honor Board meetings and is a member of the Appeals Board.

Investigative Procedure: All actions taken regarding a Report before the Investigative Team has made a decision of merit.

Hearing Procedure: All actions taken regarding a Report if and after the Investigative Team has decided that it has merit.

Case: A General Report that has merit as determined by the Investigative Team.

Quorum: 50% of the student body presently enrolled in classes.

4.2 Reporting and Hearing Procedures

Reporting Overview

There are several tracks that a student or community members have when considering using the college as a means of adjudicating a violation of the Honor Code or related policies. This Honor Code outlines the track that involves the Olin College Honor Board, a group of elected student representatives and appointed employees of the college responsible for mediating violation reports sent to them. Other tracks - direct mediation by the Office of Student Affairs, direct mediation by the Olin College Title IX representative, civil or criminal courts, etc. are not bound to the same process as outlined herein.

Report

In order to submit a report to the Honor Board for review, a student or faculty member can file a report form that gets sent to the Chair, Vice Chair, and Advisor to the Honor Board. The Report cites a violation of either the Honor Code Values or college procedures. The Honor Board has the responsibility to view each report that is filed and make a decision of whether or not to proceed with the Case. The Chair and Vice Chair have the ability to dismiss a report if it is not under the jurisdiction of the Honor Code. If they do not dismiss it, normal procedures are followed.

Investigative Team

Upon receiving a Report the Chair will form an Investigative Team. The Investigative Team shall interview the Reported and the Reporter about the alleged violation and shall gather from both parties names of witnesses able to substantively contribute to the Investigative Team’s understanding of the alleged violation. Members of the Investigative Team may interview witnesses with substantive knowledge of the alleged violation. If, in a Case that does not involve a potential academic violation of the Honor Code, all members of the Investigative Team, as well as all Reporters, Reported, and involved Aggrieved Parties, agree that an alternate solution may resolve the issue presented by a report without requiring a hearing, then the Investigative Team may recommend that the solution be attempted. The outcome of this attempt will then be taken into consideration when the Investigative Team determines whether or not to refer the Case to the Honor Board.

Hearing

During the Hearing one member of the Investigative Team shall serve as moderator and the other shall serve as recorder. Neither the moderator nor the recorder shall have decision-making power. The Hearing Panel is formed. Faculty and/or staff representatives to the Honor Board may be present at hearings, though their presence is not required and they hold no decision-making power. If the Honor Board is unable to meet its obligations in a timely fashion due to scheduling conflicts, disqualifications, or other reasons that the Dean of Student Affairs determines may compromise its effectiveness, the Dean may appoint an ad hoc Investigative Team.

Upon formation of the Hearing Panel the Reported will be given the opportunity to accept or not accept Responsibility. If Responsibility is accepted the Case will then proceed to a Sanction Setting Hearing. If Responsibility is not accepted the Case will proceed to a Responsibility Hearing. Absent extraordinary circumstances, a Hearing shall be held within sixty business days of a Report being submitted and ten business days from the date the Investigative Team delivers the charges to the Reported. All Hearings will be closed to all persons other than Investigative Team, Panel members, Office of Student Affairs personnel, Witnesses, Aggrieved Parties , the Reporter, the Reported, and Advisors. Notice of the Hearing shall be delivered to the Aggrieved Parties, the Reporter, the Reported, and Witnesses either in person, or to the appropriate campus mailboxes, or to the appropriate e-mail accounts, at least two business days in advance of the hearing. Notice to the Reported shall include the charge(s) against the Reported.

Responsibility Hearing

Immediately prior to the Hearing, the Hearing Panel will receive the Report submitted by the Reported and will be briefed by the Investigative Team. During the Hearing the Reported and the Reporter will both be given the opportunity to speak and the Hearing Panel will have the opportunity to ask questions of each. Decisions shall be based solely upon evidence and testimony introduced at the Hearing and the briefing provided by the Investigative Team.

The Panel shall make one of the following decisions: (a) a finding of not responsible, (b) a finding of responsible (based on preponderance of the evidence), to be followed up by a Sanctions Setting Hearing, or (c) continuance of the Case to obtain additional information or for further consideration. All decisions shall be made by consensus (i.e., unanimous vote of the members of the Panel who do not abstain from voting).

Sanction Setting Hearing

Prior to the recommendation of Sanction(s), the Reported may present one Character Witness. Advisors may serve as Character Witnesses during a Sanction Setting Hearing.

The Panel may request recommendations for Sanction(s) from the Reported, the Aggrieved Parties, and the Reporter. The Reported may respond to the Panel’s recommended Sanction(s) prior to the close of the Hearing. The Panel shall recommend to the Dean of Student Affairs one or more sanctions. Decisions shall be based solely upon evidence and testimony introduced at the Hearing(s) and shall be made by consensus (i.e., unanimous vote of the voting members of the Panel who do not abstain from voting).The Panel shall include in the materials it submits to the Dean of Student Affairs a brief written summary of the Reported’s response, if given.

Appeals

Requests for appeal may be made to the Dean of Student Affairs on the following grounds:

1. Procedural error;
2. New evidence that was not reasonably available at the time of the Hearing that could change the outcome of the Hearing;
3. Belief that the severity of the Sanction is inappropriate given the details of the Case.

Disagreement with the finding(s) or Sanction(s) is not, by itself, grounds for Appeal.

Upon conclusion of a Hearing and delivery of the outcome to the parties involved, the Reported and/or Reporter may appeal a finding of Responsibility or Sanction(s) by written statement to the Dean of Student Affairs within one business day. The Appeal letter must clearly state the grounds and rationale for the Appeal. Once received, the Dean of Student Affairs will convene an Appeals Board. The members of the Appeals Board will be the Faculty Representative to the Honor Board, the Staff Representative to the Honor Board, and a student member of the Honor Board. None of the Appeals Board members will have been involved in the adjudication of the Case being appealed. The Dean of Student Affairs may appoint new members to the Panel as needed or in the event of a conflict of interest. This may result in more than three voting members on the Appeals Board.

The Appeals Board will not substitute its own judgment for a finding of Responsibility or Sanction(s).

The Appeals Board may rule in one of three ways:

1. They may recommend a new Hearing before a new Hearing Panel.
2. They may recommend the Case go back to the original Hearing Panel for further review for reasons such as new evidence that was not available during the original Hearing.
3. They may recommend that the Appeal be denied.

If the Appeal is denied, the Sanction(s) will be imposed and the college will consider the Case closed. The Appeals Board must inform the Dean of Student Affairs about the outcome of the Appeal deliberations within 10 business days of the written Appeal being received. The Dean of Student Affairs will notify the Reporter and the Reported in writing of the outcome of the Appeal within 2 business days of receiving the outcome from the Appeals Board.

Barring any extraordinary circumstances, if a request for Appeal is filed, Sanction(s) resulting from the Case will typically be put on hiatus and not implemented until after the Appeal is resolved. If an emergency suspension or dismissal has been administered, the student must leave campus and remain off campus during the Appeal process.

Streamlined Academic Report

In the event that a faculty or staff member identifies a violation of academic integrity, the faculty or staff member and the Reported will work independently to develop an appropriate Sanction. A summary of the violation and recommended Sanction(s) is submitted to the Chair, Vice Chair, and Advisor to the Honor Board.