The Weekly

Outside review proposes changes to UMW’s student conduct process

An outside review of UMW’s student conduct process recommended shortening the process, clarifying the procedures and expanding the staff of the Office of Student Conduct and Responsibility, among other changes.

“Staff shared that case adjudication can take up to a month from receipt of the incident report to a finding,” the report said. “This is much longer than the average case timeline either reviewer has experienced at current or previous institutions. ... Additionally, when a semester is only 14 weeks, a month is almost one-third of the semester for the student.” To combat this, the reviewers recommended eliminating the pre-hearing conference, which the office currently holds with each student involved in a case, in favor of a more efficient method.

Additionally, the reviewers said that the existing conduct procedures are confusingly written, and the processes should be communicated in a clearer way to students. Although the procedures should be clarified, the report said, the reviewers also noted that the procedures should be flexible enough to accommodate different types of cases.

“It took both reviewers multiple reads to be able to understand the system, and combined, we have 28 years of experience in student conduct,” the report said. “It is crucial to provide clarity in policy and procedures, but it’s also important to allow and permit flexibility. ... There are recent trends within the field of Student Conduct to allow flexibility in the case resolution pathways and options.”

The same flexibility should be applied to complainants’ rights, the reviewers said. When revising the student conduct policies, the reviewers

Panel discusses war in Ukraine

recommended that interim measures, such as no contact orders, schedule adjustments and temporary moves, be offered to the complainants while a complaint is pending.

“Every complainant has access to interim measures,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Juliette Landphair in an email comment to The Weekly Ringer. “Every situation is unique, and the interim measures enacted will be appropriate for that situation.”

“This spring, we will be exploring additional opportunities to collect campus feedback via assessments and training sessions,” the email said. “As we respond to input and concerns, we want to provide more oversight to the system, while balancing compliance and protecting students’ rights with compassion and proactive support.”

The review was prompted shortly after The Weekly Ringer reported on a student conduct case involving Tirzah Rao, daughter of Anand Rao, professor and chair of the communication and digital studies department. In 2017, after reporting that she was physically and verbally assaulted by a coworker on campus, Tirzah went through the Judicial Review Board—now named the Office of Student Conduct and Responsibility—as a complainant. Problems with the process and a lack of support from administration, she said, led her to transfer to Virginia Commonwealth University.

-Anand Rao

The report also suggested increasing collaboration between the Office of Student Conduct and Responsibility and the Office of Title IX, especially for cases that don’t clearly fall under one office’s jurisdiction.

“As student behavior is often complex and federal regulations are updated periodically, a structured process for case coordination and the handoff of cases between Title IX and OSCAR is essential,” the report said.

The report also noted that, “when looking at similar-sized institutions, one full-time role in student conduct is scarce.” Raymond Tuttle is the director and oversees the office.

The recommendations were sent to the UMW community in an email on Feb. 22, following an outside review of student conduct commissioned in April 2022.

CALLIE HARKINS News Editor

On April 22, 2022, University President Troy Paino sent an email calling for the outside review of student conduct. Throughout the summer and fall of 2022, the review was completed by Karen Belanger, director of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Alyssa Reddy, director of the Center for Honor Integrity and Community Standards at Christopher Newport University.

The reviewers interviewed members of the campus community, including Tirzah and Anand Rao, administrators, the Student Conduct Review Board President and various students on the Honor Council.

“The document was only released this morning so I have not had a chance to inquire, but I am left with two questions or concerns,” Professor Rao said in an email comment to The Weekly Ringer.

UMW’s political science and international affairs department hosted an expert panel discussion on Feb. 20 titled, “The War in Ukraine: One Year On.” The discussion centered around topics such as U.S. policy response, the political scene within Russia, military action taken by both sides and ongoing European security, emphasizing that the war is far from over.

“These events matter, they impact human lives and by all indications, they are not going to stop,” said Jason Davidson, panelist and professor of political science and international affairs at UMW. “The war is not going to stop and the consequences for human life are not going to stop anytime soon.”

The panel was held nearly one year after Russian forces first invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Each panelist was allotted five to ten minutes to discuss the issue within the parameters of their expertise. The group was composed of three UMW faculty members and guest speaker Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank focused on enhancing international peace and security.

“I think it is important to emphasize that this is the biggest geopolitical crisis in decades,” she said. Grieco began the discussion by sharing her analysis of the Biden Administration’s foreign policy response.

Thursday, February 23, 2022

The Editor-in-Chief