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A10.02.02 Standards of Students/User Conduct

Effective Date: January 21, 2003	New:
Will Replace: April 20, 1999	Revision: X

Policy Statement

College students, employees, and users are entitled to engage in the educational process, or the provision of educational services, free from disruptive or inappropriate behaviours.

Scope of this Policy

1. Other Policies

a. Where behaviours are of a violent nature, policy A10.01.06 "Violence Prevention Involving student/Users" shall apply.
b. Where behaviours may be considered as Sexual Harassment or Personal Discrimination, Policy A02.09.01 shall apply.
c. Where actions of a Student involve plagiarism or academic cheating, Policy E04.01.02 shall apply.
d. Where behaviours involve a College Employee as a Complainant or Respondent, Policy A10.02.01 Standards of Conduct Involving College Employees shall apply.

2. This policy shall apply to behaviours that involve Students and/or Users of Douglas College and that take place within the College environment as defined by this policy.

Definitions

1. Disruptive/Inappropriate Conduct

Behaviours that interfere with normal College operations and/or may be considered disruptive/inappropriate by any reasonable standard. These include but are not limited to:

a. Behaviours that create significant disruption to the learning environment and/or impede the instructional process or the delivery of College services.

b. Behaviours that create an atmosphere of hostility, intimidation, ridicule, anxiety or disrespect for others.

c. Behaviours where Student/Users fail to comply with reasonable direction from College Employees or security personnel acting in performance of their duties at the College.

d. Behaviours that contradict published rules, regulations, procedures or common standards of safety. These include regulations/protocols for specific locations within Douglas College such as laboratories, the library, and the gymnasium, or for facilities used in partnership with other parties (e.g. Pinetree Community Centre, practicum work sites, etc.

e. Behaviours of a non-violent nature that endanger or threaten to endanger the health or safety of College Students, Employees or Users present on campus, or that subject any College Student, Employee or User to physical, mental, written or verbal abuse, or to potential injury.

f. Behaviours that contradict standards of conduct for practicum placements, work experience placements or co-op placements as specified by course objectives, departmental policies and/or rules and regulations of the work place.

g. Behaviours that damage, deface or destroy College property.

2. Student

Any individual utilizing Douglas College educational offerings (credit or non-credit).

3. College Employee

All those directly employed by Douglas College and those individuals employed by the College to instruct/supervise Douglas College students in off-campus settings.

4. Users

Any individual(s) using College facilities or services, while they are present on a campus of Douglas College. This includes, but is not limited to, College contractors, individual(s) attending College events (such as athletic or performing arts events, or conferences), facility renters, and users of services such as the Cafeteria, Library or Student Services.

5. College Environment

Includes all Douglas College premises and any off-campus sites utilized by Douglas College for instruction, practicums, co-op or work experience placements, and/or other environments in which the Student is placed as part of the course or program in which he/she is registered.

6. Supervisor

A person designated as a Supervisor for other College Employee(s).

7. Responsible Administrator

The administrator responsible for the discipline/program, service area or work unit of in which the Disruptive/Inappropriate behaviour took place. This would normally be the Dean/Director. In public space at the college, this would normally be the Director, Facilities Services.

8. Complainant

Any College Employee or Student User who has been impacted by the alleged Disruptive/Inappropriate behaviour and seeks resolution through an informal or formal complaint process. In a situation where the College has evidence of Disruptive/Inappropriate behaviours and no individual complaint is received, the College may act as the complainant to initiate an investigation and/or take disciplinary actions.

9. Respondent

The individual alleged as responsible for any Disruptive/Inappropriate behaviour in an informal or formal complaint.

Procedural Fairness

The College will deal with allegations of Disruptive/Inappropriate Conduct in a procedurally fair, unbiased and timely manner. Complainants and Respondents (the Parties) shall be advised of the procedures available to them and will be provided with a copy of applicable Policy.
During Informal and/or Formal Investigation, the Parties shall be advised of all allegations and responses and shall be accorded reasonable opportunity to provide comments in support or defense of their own positions. Both the Complainant and Respondent have a reasonable right to view and respond to any information gathered during the investigation, that will be utilized in determining a finding that Disruptive/Inappropriate Conduct, as defined by this policy, has or has not occurred.
For a complaint to be considered under this Policy, it must be submitted within three months of the date of the last alleged incident of Disruptive/Inappropriate Conduct. If the Complainant submits evidence that there is reasonable cause for an extension to the three-month limit the Responsible Administrator may grant such an extension.

Interim Relief

The College President or Responsible Administrator may take whatever interim measures he/she considers necessary to protect the safety of the College Community and/or prevent damage to College property, pending the completion of an investigation of a complaint of Disruptive/Inappropriate Conduct. Such measures may include, but are not limited to, ordering the Complainant, Respondent, witnesses or other parties to cease and desist from engaging in a particular type of behavior, restricting access to a specific campus or specific areas of a college campus, and/or suspending one or both of the Parties from the College pending investigation.

Procedures/Rules Statements

The following procedures for dealing with Disruptive/Inappropriate Behaviours are not intended to be necessary, consecutive steps. Based on the judgment of the College Employee dealing with those behaviours, if the situation warrants immediate action, the first procedures/steps may be omitted and security called to remove the inappropriate/disruptive individual.

An Employee, Supervisor or individual designated as the person responsible for the instructional or service environment or security personnel will ask the Student/User to cease the Disruptive/Inappropriate Behaviour.

Where the Student/User does not cease the Disruptive/Inappropriate Behaviour, s/he will be asked to leave that environment. Where that individual does not leave, the Responsible Administrator or Security may be called to remove that individual from the environment (classroom, library, public space and so on).

In the case of a single serious incident or of ongoing incidents of Disruptive/Inappropriate Behaviour, and at all times when a Student/User is required to leave a specific learning/service environment, the instructor or designated Supervisor for that learning/service environment will notify the Responsible Administrator.

Any such notification shall be in writing, and must include a description of the disruptive behaviours, when and where they occurred, and the names of individuals involved, including witnesses where possible.

Where the alleged Disruptive/Inappropriate behaviours occurs between Complainant and Respondent, and no interventions (as described above) occur at that time, the Complainant may first consult with the individual responsible for the learning or service environment to attempt informal resolution. The Supervisor, Manager or Administrator will follow-up on such allegations in a timely manner and may meet with the Complainant and Respondent to facilitate resolution. Where the Supervisor, Manager or Administrator determines s/he cannot resolve the issue, the Complainant may submit a signed Complaint to the Responsible Administrator for investigation.

Upon receipt of a signed complaint, or incident notification as described in (3) above, the Responsible Administrator will meet with the Complainant, the Respondents and/or with other witnesses, as appropriate, to investigate the reported incident, to facilitate informal resolution in those cases where the Supervisor, Manager or Administrator responsible for the learning or service area has not attempted to facilitate informal resolution, and/or to facilitate a formal investigation to determine whether a breach of this Policy has occurred.

Such formal or informal investigation shall be initiated by the Responsible Administrator within ten working days of receiving a signed complaint or incident notification. All allegations of Disruptive/Inappropriate Conduct will be investigated in a prompt, objective and sensitive manner.

Where Disruptive/Inappropriate Behaviour takes place in a practicum or work experience setting a work place supervisor is authorized to ask a Student to stop such behaviour and/or ask that Student to leave the work setting. Such incidents will be reported to the Administrator Responsible for the Program and/or Work setting and any investigation/follow-up actions (as described above) shall be the responsibility of the Responsible Administrator.

In the event that a breach of this Policy has occurred, the Responsible Administrator will determine disciplinary actions that may include (but are not limited to):
1. a letter that clearly states that the behaviour is inappropriate, and that outlines/identifies possible consequences including disciplinary action up to and including suspension from the college in the event of continuation of the Disruptive/Inappropriate Behaviour. One copy of the letter shall be provided to the Respondent, one copy placed on the Respondent's student file where the Respondent is a Student, and one copy shall be kept by the Responsible Administrator.
2. restriction of access to specific College activities, facilities and/or services, stated in writing, with one copy of such notice of restrictions provided to the Respondent, a copy provided to the Director, Facilities Services, and one copy kept by the Responsible Administrator.
3. where the breach of this policy is deemed serious based on a "reasonable person" standard, immediate disciplinary action up to and including suspension from the College. The Student/User will receive written notice from the Responsible Administrator of his/her suspension and a copy of this notice will be sent to the Director, Facilities Services. Where the Respondent is a Student a copy will be sent to the Registrar's office to be placed in the Student's file.

Where a Formal Investigation takes place the Responsible Administrator shall notify the Complainant and Respondent of the outcome of the investigation including disciplinary actions taken by the college.

Where an Investigation determines that the complaint was frivolous, vexatious or vindictive in nature, the College may take appropriate disciplinary action against the Complainant.

Appeals

(a) If the Complainant or the Respondent feels that he/she was not provided with due process within an Informal Resolution Process and the complaint had not been moved to a formal investigation, he/she may appeal the decision(s) of the Responsible Administrator to the Responsible Vice President. Where the decision is made by the Responsible Vice President, the appeal would be directed to the College President. The appeal must be submitted in writing within ten days of the decision being received by the Complainant/Respondent and must provide specific grounds for the appeal, describing how the policy was incorrectly applied and/or due process was not followed. That Vice President (or President) will determine if additional actions or formal investigation is required and, where appropriate, appoint an Investigator

(b) If the Complainant or Respondent feels that appropriate process was not followed within the Formal Investigation or that this Policy was incorrectly applied he/she may appeal the decisions of the Responsible Administrator to the appropriate Vice-President, or where the decision was made by the Vice President to the College President. The appeal must be submitted in writing within ten days of the decision being received by the Complainant/Respondent and must provide specific grounds for the appeal, describing how the Policy was incorrectly applied and/or due process was not followed. The appeal will deal with appropriateness of process or disciplinary decisions and will not reconsider the original complaint.

(c) If an Investigation results in suspension of a student from the College, that student has the right to appeal that suspension to the College President. The appeal must be submitted in writing within ten days of the decision being received by the Student providing rationale for why suspension should not be applied.

Responsibility for Actions

1. Students and Users of Douglas College shall be held responsible for their actions whether acting individually or in a group, and ignorance of College policies or regulations will not absolve the Student/User of responsibility.

2. All behaviours which may be reasonably perceived as threatening the safety/well-being of others, or disruptive of the College learning/working environment, whether intended as facetious or not, will be dealt with as real and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.

Education and Awareness

1. A manual on investigative procedures will be developed by the College, and training on appropriate investigative procedures will be provided to all Responsible Administrators.

2. The Director, Facilities Services shall ensure that a College safety/procedures manual is available to Students, Employees and Users of the College.

3. Students will be informed of the College conduct Policy through the distribution of informational materials at the beginning of each semester.

4. Students who are impacted by Inappropriate Behaviours shall have access to support services through the College Counseling Services or be referred to community agencies, as appropriate.

5. Information on any incident resulting in disciplinary actions will be sent to the Director, Facilities Services (and the appropriate administrator/supervisor at locations other than the Royal Avenue Campus). The Director, Facilities Services will maintain a list of Students/Users who have been disciplined for Disruptive/Inappropriate Behaviour. This list will be accessible to all Responsible Administrators.

6. The Director, Facilities Services or designate will prepare statistical reports of incidents under this policy that result in disciplinary action, and circulate these to Senior Management Team.