An initial incident report describes the alleged behavior and relevant facts and details relating to the incident at issue and identifies witnesses where appropriate. Initial information about an incident is submitted or released to residential life staff, the public safety department or the dean of students office for appropriate action.

Upon receipt of the information and, if necessary, a completed investigation by a university investigator, the assigned conduct officer schedules a conduct meeting. A notice of the time, date and place of the meeting is sent to the student via electronic mail.

A request for postponement of up to five additional business days for a conduct meeting can be made to the conduct officer. The request must be for good cause and is subject to the availability of the conduct officer. The parties involved are responsible for checking their Quinnipiac email accounts during examination and vacation periods. Not checking the student’s email account is not an acceptable request for postponement. Conduct cases are heard as scheduled with or without the student present, and regardless of a student’s withdrawal from the university.

Upon review of an incident, speech or conduct involving an admitted but not yet matriculated student, the university will offer the student an opportunity to respond and will decide, in its sole discretion, whether to rescind the student’s offer of admission. Students who have been admitted but not yet matriculated will not be afforded the opportunity to attend a conduct meeting or appeal meeting.

Student Procedural Rights in the Student Conduct Process

A student who has been charged with a violation of the Student Code of Conduct is granted fundamental fairness in the form of the following rights as part of this process:

Notice – The right to be informed, in writing, of the specific alleged violation(s) of the Student Code of Conduct and/or university policy, rule or regulation in which the student is suspected of involvement.

  • Procedures – The right to be informed verbally and/or in writing of the conduct procedures.
  • Information – The right to know the nature of the information at the time of the meeting and object to information being heard that is unrelated to the incident cited in the report.
  • Witness Statements – The right to present written witness statements in a conduct meeting.
  • Adviser – The right to have a Quinnipiac faculty or staff member (excluding any relative employed by the university) attend the meeting in the role of adviser. This individual may not address the conduct officer, but may consult freely with the student. Legal counsel/attorneys, parents/guardians, family members and/or anyone involved in the underlying incident are not permitted to attend any conduct meeting as an adviser.
  • Meeting – The right to request a postponement, subject to the availability of the conduct officer, of up to five business days from the original conduct meeting.
  • Privacy – The right to have all records, files and proceedings kept appropriately private.
  • Written Decision – The right to have a written decision letter documenting the results of the conduct meeting.
  • Appeal – The right to request an appeal of a conduct meeting, if found responsible. Students who fail to attend their conduct meeting forfeit their right to request an appeal.

Request for Accommodations

Any accommodations made for documented disabilities must be approved by the Office of Student Accessibility (OSA). Students who have a disability documented with OSA, and require accommodations in preparing for and/or during the conduct meeting, should contact OSA at access@qu.edu 

Students seeking an accommodation who have not yet provided documentation to the university should complete the Accommodation Request Form for Students with Disabilities.

Witness Statements

Witnesses are those individuals who provide information based on personal knowledge or experience of the incident. The conduct officer has the option of communicating with witnesses as necessary. Character statements are not considered valid witness statements.

Conduct Meeting

The conduct officer, the student and their adviser, and a member of the dean of students office or appropriate university staff member are the only individuals permitted to participate at a conduct meeting, except that the university reserves the right to have university counsel present at any conduct meeting.

The conduct officer reviews the procedural rights of the student. The incident report may be read and the alleged violations based on the report are explained. The student is asked to declare if they are responsible for any of the alleged violations.

The student presents their information, which may include witness statements acquired by the student. After the presentation, the conduct officer engages in a conversation with the student. The conduct officer decides if the student is responsible or not responsible for the charged violations. The sanction may be announced and explained either at the meeting or at a later date as determined by the conduct officer. The student has the right to request an appeal, if found responsible for any violation.

Recordings and Disciplinary Records

Students are not permitted to record conduct meetings. Disciplinary records, excluding dismissals and expulsions, are retained electronically for seven years after the incident date. All dismissal (if the student does not return to Quinnipiac) and expulsion records remain permanently on file. All conduct meetings are closed. The university does not permit the release of any recordings or disciplinary records to parties outside the university.

Findings

The student will receive a written outcome letter following the meeting, which will include the findings for each alleged violation as well as any sanctions as may be appropriate.

Sanctions

If a student is found responsible for any violation(s) of the Student Code of Conduct, sanctions may be assigned. Sanctions are actions, expectations and/or statuses set by the university to educate students and/or to promote a healthy and safe environment on and off campus. The sanctions listed below are meant to serve as examples, and not an exhaustive list of all possible outcomes. In some cases, a student may receive a combination of sanction outcomes, e.g., an educational sanction and a conduct status. The length of time for any conduct status will be determined based on the circumstances of the case. Additionally, the specific sanction(s) assigned in any case may deviate from the descriptions below. A student on a conduct status may be ineligible for certain university privileges, activities and/or events. Sanctions include, but are not limited to:

  1. Expulsion—The permanent separation of the student from Quinnipiac University. This would result in the denial of all student privileges, including, but not limited to: classes, Quinnipiac-sponsored internships, externships or clinical assignments, university-related/sponsored events and activities, residence halls and university-owned, operated or leased property. Expulsions will appear on the student's transcript.
  2. Dismissal—The indefinite separation of the student from Quinnipiac University. This would result in the denial of all student privileges, including, but not limited to: classes, Quinnipiac-sponsored internships, externships or clinical assignments, university-related/sponsored events and activities, residence halls and university-owned, operated or leased property. 
  3. Dismissal with Petition to Return—The indefinite separation of the student from Quinnipiac University. This would result in the denial of all student privileges, including, but not limited to: classes, Quinnipiac-sponsored internships, externships or clinical assignments, university-related/sponsored events and activities, residence halls and university-owned, operated or leased property. Readmission to Quinnipiac may be possible by petition and demonstration of satisfactory completion of conditions set forth by the student’s decision letter to the appropriate conduct officer, after the date noted in the decision letter.
  4. Suspension—The temporary separation of the student from Quinnipiac University. This would result in the denial of all student privileges, including, but not limited to: classes, Quinnipiac-sponsored internships, externships or clinical assignments, university-related/sponsored events and activities, residence halls and university-owned, operated or leased property. Suspension occurs for a specific period of time at the end of which a student may resume classes with reinstatement of all student privileges unless otherwise specified.
  5. Deferred Suspension—A final opportunity to demonstrate behavior that is consistent with the expectations of the Quinnipiac University community as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct. Any subsequent violation of university policy during this period causes the suspension to take effect immediately.
  6. Conduct Probation—A period of time during which any subsequent violation of university policy may result in more significant conduct action.
  7. Residence Hall Removal—A removal from the residence halls. Students can be removed temporarily or permanently. Students who are removed from the residence halls may not reside in or visit any university-owned residential facility.
  8. Deferred Residence Hall Removal—A final opportunity to demonstrate behavior that is consistent with the expectations of the Quinnipiac University residential living area. Any subsequent violation of university policy during this period causes the residence hall removal to take effect immediately.
  9. Access Restriction—The restriction of a student from being present in a specified building or area of university-owned, operated or leased property and/or taking part in a specified university-sponsored event or activity.
  10. Loss of Privileges—The restriction of a student from participating in specified events or activities, including, but not limited to: athletic events, campus concerts, participation in student organization activities or other university events/activities.
  11. Conduct Warning—A formal written notice to the student informing them that further violations of the Student Code of Conduct may result in additional conduct sanctions.
  12. Restitution—A payment to Quinnipiac University is required for damages incurred as a result of violations of the Student Code of Conduct.
  13. Fine—A payment to Quinnipiac University is required for violations of the Student Code of Conduct and/or other published or distributed materials.
  14. Removal of Property—The mandatory removal of student property that disturbs others, creates a health and/or safety risk, or constitutes a violation of the Student Code of Conduct.
  15. Educational Sanction—An educational assignment developed to enhance student learning around the specific violation(s) of the Student Code of Conduct and/or support the specific needs of the student.

Appeals

Conduct decisions may be appealed. Requests for an appeal will be reviewed by an appeal officer who is appointed by the Director of Student Conduct and Community Standards. To request an appeal, the student must specify the grounds upon which the appeal is based, and how those grounds materially affected the outcome (responsibility or sanctions) of the original meeting. Appeals are accepted for the following grounds:

  • Additional relevant information has been discovered that was not available at the time of the conduct meeting.
  • An error in the conduct process, as outlined in the Student Procedural Rights or the Student Conduct Process, that materially affected the outcome of the conduct meeting.

Students must submit a completed Request for Appeal Form within two business days after receipt of the conduct meeting decision for the appeal to be considered. The appeal request must be completed entirely by the student. Sanction(s) imposed by the conduct officer may be held in abeyance by the Director of Student Conduct and Community Standards until the appeal is acted upon by the appeal officer. When the student is suspended from the residence halls or the university pending a conduct meeting, the suspension status remains as stated pending the appeal meeting. If it is determined the sanction is to be held in abeyance, it is not official until the formal letter of appeal is filed and the university has issued such a determination to the student in writing. The appeal request must specify the grounds upon which the appeal is based, and how those grounds materially affected the outcome of the original conduct meeting. Students who fail to attend their original conduct meeting forfeit the right to request an appeal.

The appeal officer determines whether or not there are grounds for an appeal meeting. If the appeal officer determines that an appeal meeting should be granted, they may conduct a formal appeal meeting. Similar to the conduct meeting, students may bring an adviser to the appeal meeting, but legal counsel/attorneys, parents and/or family members are not permitted to attend. Parties from the initial conduct meeting, involved in the investigation and/or identified in the documentation may be called to attend the appeal meeting or spoken to separately by the appeal officer. Failure to appear at this meeting without reasonable notice will result in the appeal request being evaluated without your participation.

The appeal officer may decide:

  • To concur with the conduct officer. In this case, the initial decision is final.
  • To modify the finding(s) and/or sanction(s) decided by the conduct officer(s).

The appeal decision is final.