Office of the Dean of Students hosts meeting to discuss ongoing Code of Conduct changes

The ASMSU Student Code of Conduct is undergoing its largest revision since 2006.

The Associate Dean of Students Bill McKenny and Dean of Students Matt Caires are collaborating with the multiple ASMSU branches to revise the document.

The revision’s purpose is “to remove the archaic language, over explanations, under explanations, and to add further guidelines around hazing and harassment,”  said Amanda Haab, ASMSU’s Chief Justice.

“They basically scrapped it and started over,” Haab said.

Located in section 600.00 at the end of the MSU Conduct Guidelines and Grievance Procedures for Students, the Code of Conduct outlines a framework that, as Haab explained it, “is a list of expectations and the consequences of failing to reach those expectations for students.” 

One area under special scrutiny is section 622.00 regarding hazing and harassment. “They are fielding a lot of questions around hazing right now,” Haab said of the Office of the Dean of Students. “Because it's a fluid document, they are taking in students' voices and using it to make changes to the document.”

McKenny added that specific hazing instances across the nation have caused the school to rethink its expectations regarding the matter to foster a “better and safer community for everyone.”

“Anything we can do to better define for any student organization what the expectations are and what hazing is defined as, to help themselves to keep each other safe, and to have Bobcats looking out for Bobcats,” McKenny said. 

The overall goal of these reformations is to expand the awareness of expectations for student behavior and the consequences of not abiding by these standards. These changes are intended to “bolster the protection of students” and simultaneously “make it more understandable for students,” Haab said. 

Last Thursday night, McKenny held a meeting regarding the ongoing alterations to the ASMSU Student Code of Conduct. 

Multiple divisions of ASMSU, as well as branches of student government, members of the Office of the Dean of Students and other campus stakeholders discussing potential modifications were gathered at the meeting, a step toward finalizing a proposal for the revised code.

The revision process started in June 2021, and for the last 18 months, the Office of the Dean of Students has been preparing to present the proposal to University Counsel in the spring of 2023.

Although, according to McKenny, “because the reception has been so positive we're hoping to even move up the timeline to have it ready for January 2023.”

Although the goal for the document is to have it implemented in the summer of 2023, the revision process is fluid, and there is always room for updates.

According to McKenny, he and the Office of the Dean of Students are committed to “whatever we can do to ensure that this document better represents us today.”

Specifically, the ASMSU Supreme Court hopes to add a Bill of Rights section for students at the beginning of the document. This Bill of Rights would effectively outline the civil liberties permitted to students on campus and some other critical points covered in the main document. 

“We’re really excited to have a student bill of rights,” Haab said.

“I think that ASMSU put forward a Bill of Rights that well represents what students are looking for and expecting in the university, its faculty staff, and from each other,” McKenny said.

Although the Office of the Dean of Students is still reviewing the addition, if all goes well, McKenny hopes to find a way to add this section to the proposal and have representatives of ASMSU approve the revisions. 

With these new changes, students can now expect faster appeal times for grades and misconduct changes, McKenny said.