Policy Definitions
Adviser: A member of the Olin community who attends Honor Board meetings and is a member of the Appeals Board and Honor Board Leadership. They have access to all Honor Board cases and are the primary point of contact for working with the Honor Board. This role is filled by the Dean of Student Affairs or their designee.
Aggrieved Parties: The Honor Board Facilitation Team can determine that there are one or more aggrieved parties, beyond 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 in a case heard by the Honor Board. It is composed of the members of the Honor Board Leadership not on the Facilitation Team as well as the Faculty Representative and Staff Representative. If both members of Honor Board Leadership were on the Facilitation team, a general member will be appointed to the Appeals Board, ensuring student representation. The purpose of the Appeals Board is to ensure that such proceedings were conducted according to the established procedures in the Community Expectations Policy and, if it is determined that procedures were not followed accordingly, to send the case back to the Honor Board for further review to a newly formed Facilitation Team containing different members of the Honor Board.
Business Days: days of Olin operation, typically occurring Monday – Friday.
Case: A General Report that has merit as determined by the Dean of Student Affairs, Honor Board Leadership and/or Honor Board Facilitation Team.
Charge: The details of a violation and each individual aspect of the Community Expectations, Honor Code Values, or college policies or procedures addressed by a Report.
Direct Adjudication: Direct Adjudication is the path for addressing violations of the Community Expectations Policy intended for particularly serious cases or those with extenuating circumstances (i.e. those where suspension or expulsion is a potential or likely outcome). This path involves a meeting held by a Student Accountability Administrator with a student or student group representative and necessary follow-up actions to address allegations of misconduct.
Discussion: An official meeting with an Honor Board Facilitation Team and other individuals involved in a Case.
Facilitation Team: The Facilitation Team consists of either the Adviser, the Staff Representative, or the Faculty Representative, along with two members of the Honor Board that facilitate Report proceedings. Their goal is to ensure that proceedings are conducted in a responsible and timely manner per the Honor Code. The Facilitation Team is chosen by the Honor Board Leadership to reduce the connections and bias each member might have towards the Reporter or Reported.
Follow-up Discussion: After an Initial Discussion in which the Reported accepts Responsibility, a Facilitation Team may hold an additional meeting to resolve the Case. These meetings may involve the Reporter, Reported, Witnesses, Supporters and other impacted parties. They may be used to discuss sanctions and/or to use Restorative Practices.
Hearing Panel: The Hearing Panel consists of three persons selected by the Facilitation Team, the Chair, and the Vice Chair from the general membership of the Honor Board. The Hearing Panel recommends sanctions and the Adviser approves, modifies, and/or waives such sanctions as detailed in Responsibility Hearings.
Honor Board (membership): The Honor Board is a Board of students charged with upholding the Honor Code Values. Its members consist of the Chair, Vice Chair, and 8 (eight) general members. There must be at least 1 (one) member from each class year, and no class year is able to have more than 3 (three) general members on the Honor Board. Additional involvement includes a Staff Representative, a Faculty Representative, and an Adviser. The Honor Board is independent of the Council of Olin Representatives (CORe; Olin’s student government) and other student bodies. The Honor Board can function with less than eight (8) general members; provided, that the composition rules set forth above are followed.
Honor Board (path): The Honor Board path is considered the preferred and default path for addressing violations of the Community Expectations Policy.
Honor Board Leadership: The Honor Board Leadership consists of the Chair, Vice Chair, and the Adviser of the Honor Board. 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 the Vice Chair are not permitted to be in the same class year. The Adviser is the Dean of Student Affairs or their designee. Honor Board Leadership is responsible for determining merit of Reports and overseeing and assigning Facilitation Teams to all Cases.
Impacted Party: An individual, group, or entity who did not file the Report but was affected by the alleged misconduct.
Initial Discussion: A meeting between the Facilitation Team and the Reported to discuss the charges in the Case and to hear the Reported’s perspective and whether they accept Responsibility for the charges.
Investigative Procedure: If deemed necessary by the Honor Board Leadership and/or the Facilitation Team, an Investigative Procedure may take place to determine the Merit of a Report. All actions taken regarding a Report before a decision of Merit are considered part of this procedure.
Faculty Representative: A member of the faculty who is trained in Honor Board procedures, who can be selected to be a member of a Facilitation Team, and is a member of the Appeals Board. The Faculty Representative can be present at all Discussions and Responsibility Hearings, but ultimately holds no decision-making power in recommending Sanctions or determining Responsibility. The Faculty Representative is selected by Honor Board Leadership.
Merit: A determination as to whether or not a Report contains an allegation may rise to the level of a violation of Community Expectations. Merit can be determined by the Honor Board Leadership Team or a Facilitation team and may or may not involve an additional Investigative Procedure.
Outcome: The results of the accountability process.
Preponderance: Also known as “more likely than not”, is the standard of proof utilized in the accountability process to determine a student or student group’s responsibility for reported allegations of violations of the Community Expectations Policy.
Report: Any report of a violation(s) of the Community Expectations, including the Honor Code Values. A report may take the form of “General”, “Streamlined Academic”, or “Streamlined Residential.”
Reported(s): The student(s) or student group alleged to have violated the Community Expectations Policy, including the Honor Code Values.
Responsibility Hearing: The Honor Board process by which the Reporter, Reported, Facilitation Team, Hearing Panel, and Adviser meet to determine responsibility and set sanctions, if deemed appropriate.
Responsibility: Acceptance of one’s actions; refers to confirming the Reported actions listed on a Report and/or other violations of the Community Expectations Policy.
Reporter(s): The individual, group, or entity who files a Report.
Restorative Justice: A framework for preventing or responding to harm that emphasizes repairing harm, active accountability, and strengthening interpersonal and community relationships and trust.
Restorative Practice(s): An approach to addressing conduct issues informed by principles and practices of Restorative Justice. When appropriate and mutually agreed upon, Restorative Practices can be incorporated in the resolution of a Case to address the impact or harm caused by the Reported’s actions, address the impact on the Reporter, and to restore trust between relevant parties and the larger community, and/or to collaboratively agree on sanctions. Restorative Practices can be used as part of Discussion-based Case resolution or during Hearings.
Restorative Solution: An alternative to a Discussion or Responsibility Hearing in which both the Reported and Reporter agree to using Restorative Practices to resolve the Case.
Sanction(s): The consequence assigned to the Reported based upon a finding of responsibility and nature of the violation as determined by the Student Accountability Administrator or Hearing Panel. Sanctions may be an outcome of a Discussion-based process after the Reported takes Responsibility or an outcome of a Responsibility Hearing. In the case of a Hearing, the Facilitation Team is responsible for determining Sanctions; Sanctions are reviewed by the Dean of Student Affairs before they are delivered to the Reported. In the case of Direct Adjudication, Sanctions are determined by the Student Accountability Administrator.
Staff Representative: A member of the staff who is trained in Honor Board procedures, can be selected to be a member of a Facilitation Team, and is a member of the Appeals Board. The Staff Representatives can be present at all Discussions and Responsibility Hearings, but ultimately hold no decision making power in recommending Sanctions or determining Responsibility. The Staff Representative is selected by Honor Board Leadership.
Streamlined Academic Report: Reports of an academic violation where a conclusion has been reached and is sent to the Honor Board to record the event.
Streamlined Residential Report: Reports of a residential life violation where a conclusion has been reached and is sent to the Honor Board to record the event.
Student: An individual who is enrolled at Olin full-time, and in special circumstances, on a part-time basis.
Student Accountability Administrators: Olin administrators who have been deemed by the Dean of Student Affairs to serve as an individual who could lead the Administrative Meeting.
Student Group: Student organizations recognized officially by Olin and in some limited circumstances, the group has not gone through the official recognition process for the College but gathers and the presence is known/acknowledged by Olin.
Support Person: The Reported and Reporter are allowed to request a member of the Olin community (i.e. any student, faculty, or staff member) not involved in the alleged misconduct to attend accountability process meetings with the Respondent (as defined hereafter) or Reporter. This individual does not speak or otherwise play an active role during meetings but is present to provide emotional care during any meeting. They may speak with the person they are supporting before and after the meeting, but otherwise may not discuss the proceedings of the Hearing with anyone else. Their role exists to support the Reported or Reporter both inside and outside of the Hearing.
Witness: An individual present for, or with knowledge of, the events in a Report who can provide direct information and/or evidence regarding the matter. Both the Reporter and the Reported can call Witnesses in an Honor Board Responsibility Hearing or Direct Adjudication. The Honor Board Facilitation Team may also interview Witnesses as part of the Investigative Procedure.