Campus Discipline in Westport
Whether public or private, all colleges and universities have honor codes that they expect students and faculty members to adhere to while on school property and participating in school events. Sometimes, these expectations also extend beyond official school settings or activities. Accordingly, colleges and universities also have standardized procedures for investigating, deliberating on, and potentially issuing sanctions in response to conduct violations by students or faculty members.
Every individual school takes its own unique approach to campus discipline in Westport, as an attorney from our firm can explain in further detail. However, there are some broad commonalities among most university-level codes of conduct that are worth knowing about in advance.
What Can Student Codes of Conduct Legally Prohibit?
Connecticut state law imposes substantial limitations on how public colleges, universities, and K-12 schools handle campus discipline, whether they operate in Westport or elsewhere in the Nutmeg State. While all public schools can draft their own student codes of conduct, investigate alleged violations, and impose sanctions up to and including suspension or expulsion, the law requires them to ensure due process for students accused of violations. They are also prohibited from instituting certain types of punishment against students adjudicated guilty of conduct violations.
Conversely, private colleges, universities, and boarding schools are not subject to the same restrictions as public schools. Students accused of conduct violations in those settings may not have the same privileges or rights as public school students. However, all public and private schools that receive federal funding of any kind are subject to the rules and restrictions established under Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments, in addition to other federal regulations.
Your Rights as a Student Accused of a Conduct Violation
The best way to determine what specific rights you have as someone accused of a violation is to refer to your school’s particular code of conduct rather than looking to state or federal law, especially if you attend a private school. However, most schools follow broadly similar approaches to campus disciplinary action, and a lawyer from our Westport office can help ensure that you have access to every right granted to you.
For example, most schools allow students accused of conduct violations to have an advisor accompany them to disciplinary hearings. This can be a legal representative, a parent, or a trusted faculty member. Likewise, most schools have specific criteria for what constitutes any particular type of conduct violation. If school administrators cannot establish guilt by a preponderance of the evidence, they will generally not proceed with sanctions.
Seek Help for Your Campus Disciplinary Hearing From a Westport Attorney
It can be deceptively challenging to deal with allegations of school conduct code violations, whether you are the student personally facing them or the parent or guardian of a minor child at a K-12 school. Either way, the process can present numerous emotional challenges. In addition, there are many legal complexities because the law does not directly govern how many schools handle situations like this.
Fortunately, you have help available when handling matters relating to campus discipline in Westport. Our attorneys have experience successfully handling similar scenarios, so call Mark Sherman Law today to discuss your next steps. You can see what past clients have said about our services by reading some of the more than 300 verified reviews on our Avvo.com profile.