Senate Bill 12-13-30
| Bill ID: | 12-13-30 |
| Name: | Review of the Evidentiary Standards in the Code of Student Conduct |
| Proposed: | 11/01/2012 |
| Sponsor: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Proposal: | In December 2011, the Senate approved the Student Conduct Committee's (SCC) report and recommendations on Senate Document #11-12-10, "Updates to Procedural Requirements Pertaining to Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence." Likewise, President Loh approved the report and recommendations on January 17, 2012. One of the approved recommendations included a request from the committee to be charged in Fall 2012 with revisiting the Code of Student Conduct regarding the changes made to comply with the directives in the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights' (OCR) "Dear Colleague Letter" of April 2011. In order to bring the University into compliance with the directives outlined in the OCR letter, the committee recommended revising the burden of proof requirements in the Code of Student Conduct to include "preponderance of the evidence" (e.g., it is more likely than not that the sexual harassment or violence occurred) instead of "clear and convincing" (e.g., it is highly probably or reasonably certain that the sexual harassment or violence occurred) as the evidentiary standard in proceedings for complaints of sexual harassment and violence only. This change to the Code has been made. In doing so, however, the Code now has two different standards of evidence, depending on the type of case, which is uncommon for an institution of higher education. The SEC will decide whether to charge the SCC with a further review of the current evidentiary standards in the Code of Student Conduct. |
| Active? | No |
| Policy: | http://www.president.umd.edu/policies/v100b.html |
| Related Bills: |
Status
| Status: | Completed |
| Completed On: | 02/05/2014 |
History
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate |
| Received: | 2013-12-03 |
| Decision Date: | 2014-02-05 |
| Decision: | The report was presented to the Senate as an informational item. |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Received: | 2013-11-18 |
| Decision Date: | 2013-11-25 |
| Decision: | To place this report on the December 10, 2013 Senate agenda as an informational item. |
| Actions: | The SEC reviewed the report and recommendation from the SCC at its meeting on November 25, 2013. |
| Next Step: | Senate |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Student Conduct Committee |
| Received: | 2013-03-25 |
| Decision Date: | 2013-11-18 |
| Decision Due By: | 2013-12-13 |
| Decision: | To submit a report to the SEC Committee for consideration. |
| Actions: | The SCC continued to work on this item in Fall 2013. In November 2013, the SCC voted to put forward the following recommendation: Due to the fact that there is no evidence that having two different standards of evidence in the Code of Student Conduct is having a negative impact on the review and processing procedures for non-academic misconduct cases, the SCC decided to recommend that no changes to the standards of evidence in the Code of Student Conduct be made at this time. |
| Next Step: | SEC Review |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Received: | 2013-03-06 |
| Decision Date: | 2013-03-13 |
| Decision: | To grant the extension. The committee's new deadline is December 13, 2013. |
| Actions: | The SEC reviewed the letter of request for an extension at its meeting on March 13, 2013. The SEC voted in favor of granting the extension. |
| Next Step: | SCC Review |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Student Conduct Committee |
| Received: | 2012-11-16 |
| Decision Date: | 2013-02-20 |
| Decision: | To submit a letter of request to the SEC for a deadline extension. |
| Actions: | 11/20/12: The committee briefly discussed the new charge at its meeting on November 20, 2012. The SCC created a plan of action for conducting the review during the spring 2013 semester. 2/20/13: Due to other pressing agenda items, the SCC decided to submit a request for an extension. The SCC was unable to meet its deadline of March 29, 2013. |
| Next Step: | SEC Review |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Received: | 2012-11-05 |
| Decision Date: | 2012-11-12 |
| Decision: | To formally charge the Student Conduct Committee with the review. |
| Next Step: | SCC Review |
| Related Files: |