Definitions
Community Standards Hearing and Appeals Panel
A panel consisting of Community Standards Justices who have been trained to consider the Community Standards hearing process and appeals filed by students who wish to contest the outcome of a Community Standards Hearing. The Community Standards Hearing and Appeals Panel serves as a safeguard to assure due process for students. Members of the panel can participate in a Community Standards Hearing or Appeal, Gender and Sex-based Discrimination, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Hearing or Appeal if they are professionally trained for sexual and gender-based cases.
Clery Crimes and Definitions
- Primary Crimes
- Arson: Any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, personal property of another, etc.
- Criminal Homicide—Manslaughter by Negligence: The killing of another person through gross negligence.
- Criminal Homicide—Murder and Nonnegligent Manslaughter: The willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another.
- Rape: The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.
- Fondling: The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her age or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental incapacity.
- Incest: Sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.
- Statutory Rape: Sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.
- Robbery: The taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.
- Aggravated Assault: An unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. This type of assault usually is accompanied by the use of a weapon or by means likely to produce death or great bodily harm. (It is not necessary that injury result from an aggravated assault when a gun, knife, or other weapon is used which could and probably would result in serious personal injury if the crime were successfully completed.)
- Burglary: The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft. For reporting purposes this definition includes: unlawful entry with intent to commit a larceny or felony; breaking and entering with intent to commit a larceny; housebreaking; safecracking; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned.
- Motor Vehicle Theft: The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle. (Classify as motor vehicle theft all cases where automobiles are taken by persons not having lawful access even though the vehicles are later abandoned—including joyriding.)
- Source: 34 CFR Pt. 668, Subpt. D, App. A
- Arrests and Referrals
- Weapons: Carrying, Possessing, Etc.: The violation of laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, concealment, or use of firearms, cutting instruments, explosives, incendiary devices, or other deadly weapons.
- Drug Abuse Violations: The violation of laws prohibiting the production, distribution, and/or use of certain controlled substances and the equipment or devices utilized in their preparation and/or use. The unlawful cultivation, manufacture, distribution, sale, purchase, use, possession, transportation, or importation of any controlled drug or narcotic substance. Arrests for violations of State and local laws, specifically those relating to the unlawful possession, sale, use, growing, manufacturing, and making of narcotic drugs.
- Liquor Law Violations: The violation of State or local laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, or use of alcoholic beverages, not including driving under the influence and drunkenness.
- Source: 34 CFR Pt. 668, Subpt. D, App. A
- Hate Crimes
- Hate crime: A crime reported to local police agencies or to a campus security authority that manifests evidence that the victim was intentionally selected because of the perpetrator's bias against the victim. For the purposes of this section, the categories of bias include the victim's actual or perceived race, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, and disability.
- Source: 34 CFR §668.46(a)
- Larceny-Theft (Except Motor Vehicle Theft): The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another. Attempted larcenies are included. Embezzlement, confidence games, forgery, worthless checks, etc., are excluded.
- Simple Assault: An unlawful physical attack by one person upon another where neither the offender displays a weapon, nor the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury involving apparent broken bones, loss of teeth, possible internal injury, severe laceration, or loss of consciousness.
- Intimidation: To unlawfully place another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words and/or other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack.
- Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of Property: To willfully or maliciously destroy, damage, deface, or otherwise injure real or personal property without the consent of the owner or the person having custody or control of it.
- Source: 34 CFR Pt. 668, Subpt. D, App. A
- Part 4: Violence Against Women Act Crimes
- Dating violence: Violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim.
- The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on the reporting party's statement and with consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.
- For the purposes of this definition—
- Dating violence includes, but is not limited to, sexual or physical abuse or the threat of such abuse.
- Dating violence does not include acts covered under the definition of domestic violence.
- For the purposes of complying with the requirements of this section and § 668.41, any incident meeting this definition is considered a crime for the purposes of Clery Act reporting.
- Domestic violence: A felony or misdemeanor crime of violence committed—
- By a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim;
- By a person with whom the victim shares a child in common;
- By a person who is cohabitating with, or has cohabitated with, the victim as a spouse or intimate partner;
- By a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred, or
- By any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person's acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred.
- For the purposes of complying with the requirements of this section and § 668.41, any incident meeting this definition is considered a crime for the purposes of Clery Act reporting.
- Stalking: Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to—
- Fear for the person's safety or the safety of others; or
- Suffer substantial emotional distress.
- For the purposes of this definition—
- Course of conduct means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in which the stalker directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about a person, or interferes with a person's property.
- Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim.
- Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may, but does not necessarily, require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.
- For the purposes of complying with the requirements of this section and section 668.41, any incident meeting this definition is considered a crime for the purposes of Clery Act reporting.
- Source: 34 CFR §668.46(a)
- Community Standards Administrator - A professional staff member of the College who has been trained in the Student Code of Community Standards. This administrator will serve in the role of adjudicating the Community Standards Hearing.
- Community Standards Appeal - A written request by a student found responsible of the Student Code of Community Standards for the review of the outcome of responsible or the sanction(s) by the Community Standards Hearing and Appeals Panel. This formal meeting of the Community Standards Hearing and Appeals Panel reviews the merits of the submitted appeal first and then determines, if applicable, the outcome and sanction(s) of the submitted appeal.
- Community Standards Hearing - An individual meeting with a Community Standards Administrator during which a respondent has access to any resources or written reports containing information used for the disciplinary action. Depending on the preponderance of evidence, the Community Standards Hearing may result in an outcome of responsible or not responsible. If the respondent is found responsible, appropriate sanctions will be assigned.
- Community Standards Justice - A College faculty member, staff member, or student who has been trained in the Student Code of Community Standards. This justice will serve in the role of adjudicating a Community Standards Hearing or Appeal.
- No Contact Order (NCO) - A formal directive issued by the College requiring parties in any interpersonal conflict to have no direct or indirect interaction. Restrictions on access to specific locations outlined in the directive may apply. An NCO remains in effect until it is officially removed in writing by the College.
- Outcome - The finding of responsible or not responsible through a Community Standards Hearing or Appeal.
- Preponderance of Evidence - The standard of proof that is used in making determinations of responsibility for alleged violations and behavior (i.e., what is more probable than not). If the evidence presented meets this standard, the respondent should be found responsible.
- Privacy - Information contained in a student’s educational record is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). In general, FERPA guarantees privacy of records for all students. FERPA assures that only individuals at any college who have a “legitimate educational need to know” may access a student’s record.
- Procedural Error - An error or omission that occurred during the Community Standards Hearing that significantly impacted the outcome of the hearing.
- Respondent - Any student who is alleged to have violated the Student Code of Community Standards.
- Sanction - The requirement or status assigned to a student who admits responsibility for or is found responsible for violations of the Student Code of Community Standards.
- Student Rights and Responsibilities: Can be found under “Institutional Policies” in the Student Handbook.