b. Writing a Decision Letter

Response: "Oh, I was just letting off steam because exams weren't going well..."

Silence is Golden

Do not be alarmed when a question is asked and the person does not respond immediately. Allow the student ample time to think without undue pressure to respond quickly. If the person needs clarification, let them ask for it; do not assume that they do not understand the question. People often times become uncomfortable with silence and, in the situation of conduct hearings, students often reveal more information than they had originally intended to by attempting to fill the silence.

Making a Determination of Responsibility

Making a Decision

When considering a question of responsibility, a hearing officer should always bear in mind that one is deciding whether a particular policy has been violated, not whether or not one agrees with that policy. A hearing officer should consider all relevant factors when deciding on the sanctions recommended for any student who has been found to be responsible for the conduct violation(s).

Testimony

Most testimony has some degree of bias and tends to lead the listener to a single interpretation of an alleged incident. Here are some things that may prove beneficial to consider when weighing the testimony: § Supporting Testimony – Support witnesses must meet the criteria of supporting or establishing a fact or circumstance at issue. Numbers of witnesses should not play a role in decisions. § Subcultures – Ethnicity or acculturation is not an acceptable excuse for irresponsibility to conformity with community standards and regulations as stated in the Code of Student Conduct. § Malice – If one witness claims another has malicious intentions, it should not hold any bearing unless it can be proven and changes the contested facts of the case. § Identification – Description of the subject given to an officer or other official who notes the description at that time may help substantiate an identity, particularly when identification is not available for documentation.

Facts

In order to make a decision you need to determine what you believe the facts are in the case. Only when this is decided will you have clear evidence to make your decision.

§ The facts of the case are those events, circumstances, incidents, or actions that you firmly believe to be true as supported by the evidence and testimony that you have heard/read. Facts are not incidents or circumstances which might or might not have occurred. Conjecture has no place in a finding of fact. § The principle question in your mind at this point should not be “is this individual responsible for the alleged violations?” The principle question should be “what happened?” Your intuition may guide your inquiry, but do not let it guide your rationale for making a decision. § Decisions are to be made on a preponderance of evidence (51%) as opposed to being beyond a reasonable doubt. § Hearing officers should be careful not to consider possible sanctions/outcomes before determining responsibility. § A decision should be relatively easy if the hearing officer has approached fact-finding systematically: o Restate the findings of facts. o From these findings, render a decision of responsibility for specific violations.

If a student does not respond or show up for their hearing

If a student does not make an appointment or show up for their hearing, a hearing is held in their absence. To hold the hearing, the Hearing Officer can interview any students or staff that might have information regarding the case to come to a decision of whether the student is responsible or not responsible.

Writing a Decision Letter (DL)

When writing a Decision Letter, all sections should be standard with the exception of the rationale portion. The rationale of the letter is the hearing officer’s opportunity to write directly to the student as well as future readers of the Decision Letter. Please refer to the template and example decision letters.

Important Aspecs of a Rationale:

§ A rationale should be able to “stand alone.” If a student reads the rationale section of their Decision Letter, it should be clear to them (without having to read the report for the case) why they are (or are not) being found responsible. A statement which simply reads “because you accepted responsibility during your hearing” will rarely suffice when considering the “stand alone” guideline. § A rationale should clearly respond to each of the alleged violations for which a student has been charged.

The rationale should cover all listed violations regardless of whether or not the student has been found responsible for that particular violation. § If a student accepts responsibility for violating specific policies, their acceptance of responsibility can be used as a rationale for lower lever cases. For higher level cases the below example can be used as part of the rationale but must have additional evidence to support the decision.