Student Regulations Committee

Absent: None

Visitors: K. Boyd (Std Affairs)

1. The Committee elected Paul Benkeser to serve as chair for 2003-2003.

2. At the request of the President’s Office, the Committee revisited the modifications to Section XVIII Academic Honor Code it recommended at its April 8, 2002 meeting. This request was made so that the Committee would have an opportunity to receive input from the Academic Misconduct Review Committee (AMRC) an opportunity to provide input. The Committee discussed the recommendations from the May 29, 2002 report from the AMRC which related to Section XVIII. These recommendations, and the Committee’s response are indicated below.

· Recommendation #3 – Increase the size of the pool of faculty and students available to empanel a Student Honor Committee. Over the next year, we recommend changing the bylaws of the Faculty Senate to create a larger panel of faculty and students from which to draw a hearing committee. We suggest creating a panel of eight faculty and six students (four undergraduate and two graduate students) from which to draw a hearing committee of a minimum of three faculty members and two students. The chair of all hearing committees must be a faculty member.

The proposed modifications remove the composition from the Code to facilitate amending the composition in the future. Given this change, revising the composition is the task of the Statues and Bylaws Committee.

· Recommendation #6 – We believe the current process should be altered to allow and encourage the option for a three-way face-to-face meeting between the student, the faculty member, and a member of the Dean of Students Office. This direct interaction could, in some cases, improve the speed of resolving cases, enhance the role of faculty interests in the process, and provide greater educational benefit for the student in understanding the implications of academic misconduct.

The proposed modifications allow for alternative dispute resolution. The OSI has begun using this format for some violations. This year OSI will clarify these procedures.

· Recommendation #9 – Once a hearing is scheduled, the only individual authorized to cancel that hearing should be the Chair of the Student Honor Committee.

The proposed modifications include this recommendation.

The Committee also incorporated some minor changes requested by the Legal Affairs Department before it unanimously recommended approval of a revised Section XVIII (see Attachment).

3. The Committee unanimously recommended approval the following change to Section XVII.D.4

All fraternities and sororities are subject to the rules, regulations, policies, including hearing and appeal procedures, established by the Georgia Tech I.F.C./Panhellenic/National Pan-Hellenic and the Institute. (added text)

4. The merits of giving student organizations the same rights as individuals to appeal to the Student Grievance and Appeal Committee (SGAC) was discussed. Concern was expressed over the need to give organizations the same rights as individuals, especially considering the large number of cases that the SGAC handles. The Committee recommended that the Student Activities Committee change the Student Organizations Code of Conduct to eliminate the possibility of appeal to the SGAC.

5. A modification of Section IV.B.2 to include a policy for religious observances was forwarded to the Committee from the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. The Committee unanimously recommended approval of this modification.

All students are responsible for obtaining an understanding of each instructor's policy regarding absences; all students are expected to attend announced quizzes, laboratory periods, and final examinations. Although it is recognized that occasionally it may be necessary for students to be absent from scheduled classes or laboratories for personal reasons, including major religious observances, students are responsible for all material covered in their absences, and they are responsible for the academic consequences of their absences. Students should discuss planned absences with their instructors as soon as possible after the beginning of an academic term. Work missed may be made up ~~if the reasons for absences are acceptable to~~ at the discretion of the instructors. (added text; ~~deleted text~~)