Meeting & Agendas

Mervin Jones motioned to approve minutes, the initial motion was made by Patricia Zuniga, seconded by Emily Olson and all Committee approved. The minutes were approved.

Mervin: This is just an overview. There won't be a vote associated with this presentation. Emily: So the student rights and responsibilities. I've been part of this committee for many years now. And then we were tasked to update the Academic Integrity. AR is the sister AR to the student code of conduct processes. The AR that we're working with right now is dated back to 2015. I'm going to try not to go too in-depth because this AR was presented to this committee at the end of last Academic year. The red line draft was approved to move forward to ASAC. Unfortunately, that June meeting got canceled. And so we are going to be presenting again, hopefully, in December or January of this Academic year. In 2001 Dr. Kinney, who was the chair of this committee at the time. Requested instruction, and led the Subcommittee to help Update this process. The intent was to make sure that the 2 sister Ars utilize the same language and that we hope to have a very clear and well-defined process for both students and faculty. One thing that we continue to do is tweak the language to be much less severe and transform it from a more punitive state to a learning opportunity for our students. We helped create clearer guidelines for faculty members so that we can help our students understand and develop their strengths and skills so that they will be successful once they move on from ACC. A quick overview of the SRR Chairs. Dr. Kenney was a chair of this for many years. A few of us have stayed the same. Dr. Nina Almasi was the original instructional-led Dean, who initiated this and helped guide the work of Estrella Barrera. Dr. Barrera has taken over her role as the instructional Dean for this subcommittee, and she is the co-chair of this subcommittee. This was up from 22 to 24. Any feedback that is provided after this goes to ASAC, we will all collectively review this, and what you'll notice is that there's a lot more heavy on the instructional side, which is wonderful because we're getting more of the feedback from full-time faculty, adjunct faculty, Student Affairs, and individuals. This is just showing how we have handled the shared governance process. The individuals who have been reporting back to the full-time Faculty Senate have been listed here. I've been the representative for the full-time Faculty Senate for the past 3 years, and then we'll have the list of the different Presidents who have received updates on the work that we've been doing. It's been shared with many stakeholders across the College, including the Vice Chancellor of Instruction, full-time Faculty Senate, Adjunct faculty, Association, Instructional Dean, Student Affairs, Deans, and the Committee at large, and everyone has had an opportunity to provide feedback and comments. Major revisions are: one of which was to help readdress or rewrite our value statement to make it less punitive and severe (harsh language). With our new Chancellor, we have new values for the college, and so we took the opportunity to use this time to revamp the value statement, this was also a recommendation from Dr. Gaye Lynn Scott, that we try and make sure that the value statement is in alignment with our current goals at the college. So you're going to see that this is a lot less punitive. We are trying to keep this from a punitive stance and make it a place of caring and courage for our students. We're now using a preponderance of evidence instead of prohibited conduct, it's Academic Conduct instead of penalties. It's sanctions. So all of that verbiage was changed through the AR to make sure that those were in alignment. What we did was make sure that as our platform, we're doing online, we're doing synchronous. If it's off-campus, virtual classrooms, co-curricular activities, clinical facilities, testing centers anywhere there's an internship or practicum site or event. A student is not allowed to withdraw from a class during a review. We made sure that in the instance of a student withdrawing from the college, they will be reinstated from that class until the process is completed. Plagiarism was defined. We made sure the language was consistent. We defined Academic Misconduct and collusion. So everything you're seeing in red is all the new that we've added, that was never there before in the AR. As the college does not have a current policy on AI, and the use of AI. What we've done is, we added unauthorized software platforms as a way to kind of cover that, and the moment. Pamela: I wanted to go back to that withdrawal statement that you made basically that the student has to remain in the class throughout the whole investigation. What's going to happen with these students and what kind of support will they receive during this process? Amber Luttig-Buonodono (proxy for LMC Coppoletta) I had a question for clarification about the Withdrawal policy. Kenyetta: Yes, my question was the Academic Misconduct, the language I thought on the previous slide. It said that it moved from Academic Conduct to prohibited conduct or is it? Emily: The language in red is new, but everything in black was the original language. The steps that a professor needed to take moving forward, we tried to define preponderance of evidence and then we defined what the due process is and had to be noted to the student via ACC email of the suspected violations. They do have the right to know the name of the complainant in the event, the allegation was brought to the instructor's attention, and the opportunity to present their version of the circumstances and events. They will contact their department chair and meet privately and individually with the student or students to discuss the allegations. The student may not withdraw from the course or the college during a disciplinary review process. Example: In pre-health sciences, the students have to complete a sequence of courses before they can go on to the next semester and take those classes. So if a student is going through an Academic Integrity violation, and they are matriculated to the next semester. They will be disenrolled from those classes until the process has been completed because they are not allowed to move on to those other courses until they have completed the courses that they are currently in. Amber: Do you know if there's any consequence for, like student visas or for financial aid, if they're disenrolled from those future semesters? Or is that not a part of those statuses? Emily: It would be part of the appeal process. It's not going to impact their financial aid during the current semester. Estrella: I wanted to clarify. I think I heard you say, Pre-health science students in the program. And these are Health Science students. Emily: Those that are in a restricted entry program cannot move on until they've completed the classes, the clinical, everything you're in. There were no instructor processes in the previous AR to guide our faculty members on how to move through this process. So what we did is try and be very focused on what needs to happen. The professor has to provide the following information. There's a link here for the example correspondence that would take you to an actual form. Notify the department chair or the coordinator immediately of suspected misconduct to determine the appropriate. The specific process is explained in the administrative rule. Amber: I do agree that you should not withdraw students from the course for suspected plagiarism or Academic Dishonesty while it goes through the process, but there could be other things going on. I have a withdrawal policy for my courses that if my students miss so many classes in a row, then they're withdrawn. And so I know other professors have similar policies. I don't want a student to read this and think that they are exempt from withdrawal while this process is playing out. And so I'd like some language in there added that the withdrawal in this scenario is solely for issues related to Academic Sanctions like this has never happened. But in theory, there could be a student who is going through this process and who walks into my classroom and just punches another student. If that student was withdrawn for that behavior it wouldn't be due to this process, to this disciplinary process. But the student could look at this and say, I can't be withdrawn while I'm going through this Academic concern. Emily: If a student goes into a classroom and punches someone else, that's a Student Conduct issue that is not an Academic Integrity issue. Mervin: We can't address every specific scenario that comes up. If students don't understand things, they can talk with you as a professor you can clarify. If not, they can come to Student Affairs to address these concerns. This is pretty clear for Academic Dishonesty. The due process falls upon you, which is the faculty members and anything other than that falls under the Student Affairs Dean. This presentation given by Emily is a courtesy of providing us with an overview of the policy. She gave us the whole history of it since 2015. Emily: Multiple occurrences of Academic Misconduct will result in the escalation of disciplinary sanctions. If a student has multiple ones, then they could be, they will be managed under the Student Affairs Deans because it becomes a student conduct disciplinary process. They are progressive and can lead to suspension or expulsion from the college. The department chair will refer any sanctions recommending suspension or expulsion to a dean of student affairs, and this follows the student standards of conduct and disciplinary processes, Patty's going to go over that a little bit more when she meets. But this language right there, that is, in the student standards of conduct. There's language in there that was mandated by our legal counsel, ACC's legal counsel on what the students, processes, and what their rights are. Dean, who will walk them through their processes and their rights. Any student for whom those sanctions are recommended will automatically receive an appeal process and start an appeal process. So if we have at least 5 business days. It ensures that all faculty members have enough time to be able to process the paperwork promptly when the Academic Dishonesty reporting form is on our website. But that's on the bottom of every single website page of ACC. You will see that report an incident, and you will find the right form to report. Meritza: Emily, I forgot to tell you this, but when you went over the slide about the advocate, legal told us we had put a footnote to say that the advocate could be an attorney because we're seeing students bringing an attorney to their meetings with us. But there was a disclaimer that I'll be sure to share with you. It's essentially saying that the attorney and the advocate are not allowed to speak on behalf of the student whatsoever. I think we need to specify if the student brings an attorney we need time to arrange to have our attorney as well. Emily: I would love that verbiage, and again if legal suggests making these changes, we have to adhere to it and put it in the AR, so there is no vote that will happen for that. It's not a friendly amendment. It's something that legal is mandating. Meritza: Yeah. So I'll send that to you. Emily: So the next steps are that Dr. Tamez and I will be reaching out to ASAC hopefully. We'll hear a little bit more after today to see whether or not we will be meeting in December, or whether or not we will be meeting in January to present these revisions after ASAC reviews these they will then send them out to the college for questions and feedback. Then all of that's going to come back to the SRR. Committee and the subcommittee so Amber all those questions and things and desires that you have once things go through ASAC. That's when they're going to come back to the subcommittee. We'll review everything collectively. Pamela: My question is I don't think I got an answer to the question I asked about how the students are going to be supported while going through this whole process, I got the answer as to what happens after the process is over, you know. And I'm glad that you guys have something in place for that because that's important. What happens to the student while they're going through this process, you know, waiting to prove that they aren't guilty, or you know that they are guilty? Emily: So when the resolution or sanctions get imposed, the student is supposed to be meeting and working with that professor to identify what occurred. In some instances, then the professor can say, all right, let's redo that work based on their syllabus. The goal of such sanctions is to make sure it doesn't always have to be severe and punitive. So again, that's why we revamped the value statement to ensure sanctions are a learning process for our students to make sure that they are given the support and resources that they need. Mervin: The next order of business is the administrative rule associated with the student code of conduct. Although Patty needed to step away, Dr. Tamez will take the lead on presenting.

Meritza: Yeah, I have a presentation that I've already prepared for ASAC because I'm just that ambitious. And so I'm going to send that to her. So if she can go over that we do have a lot of new members. We did have some major revisions to the student code of conduct. This initially started with the Deans in the north region, and then we brought it back for review by this committee back in May, since then we had some incidents that forced us to go back and relook at some things. One of the major things that we included was definitions. And it's just to make it a more student-friendly document so that they have a better understanding. We consulted with legal regarding how a student is defined on our end, meaning that if an applicant is found violating any of the code of conduct, or prohibitions that are listed, then we can take them through the student conduct process as well. So it doesn't just have to be an enrolled student, which is how we were operating before. And so we received guidance that we could take applicants through that process. So that's why we wanted to include definitions so the reader understood who we were talking about here. Student Standards of Conduct Revisions G/P #6.1202.01.2 Moving on to Slide 5, We separated some grouped illegal act charges. We had some awkward ones that were together. We have assault, attempted assault, terroristic threats, and stalking all looped into one. So we've had some stalking cases, and students receive those sanctions and think “Did I commit a terroristic threat act?” We needed to separate those because it doesn't make sense to keep them grouped. And yeah, so going on to slide 6, We added into the policy just to make it very clear that a student can be removed temporarily from a course, but they cannot be permanently removed from that course without due process. During this process, we learned that some students were being permanently removed without going through any type of due process. We agreed that we would include this disclaimer into the policy just to make sure that the student was clear about what their rights are, and for the faculty as well. Slide 7. Okay, this slide explains the disciplinary process and student withdrawals. So it's the same thing that we just heard. If a student withdraws themselves during due process through that process we're going to re-enroll them. It doesn't mean that the process ends the conduct process. We're going to continue with or without them, and they will be re-enrolled into that course if they withdraw from it. Slide 8. Failure to respond to a conduct summons and right to a peer advocate. So this is what I was just referencing and telling Emily about, like I just said, we're going to continue with that process. But we wanted to define what advocate we had had. A representative instead of the word advocate in there and the Representative was misinterpreted that the student could send someone on their behalf rather than just having someone there with them. So we change the word to advocate to peer advocate. But the disclaimer is right there, that the student may appear alone, or with the advocate who may be an attorney, and they may confer with the student, but they cannot speak on behalf of that student or to the Dean. The Dean cannot communicate with the advocate as well. So if they're sending a letter to the student, the outcomes are not to be sent to the advocate unless we have FERPA agreement and permission to do so. Next slide. We do have an updated process for students who accept responsibility. Sometimes all it takes is the summons letter to come in, and the student starts saying, yes, I did it; I'm sorry. What do I need to do to get out of it? And so in those cases, we want to just go ahead and automatically move them through the process and they will not have the right to appeal. I think we agreed they were not going to have the right to appeal. Next slide. A new sanction was added a no-contact order. We do have times when we need the student and the person who is the complainant. We need them separated for no more contact. We didn't have that as an official sanction. We were doing it in practice, but now we have made it an official sanction, so that the student knows that this can be a sanction along with other things, too. Also with this one, we've extended the student's right to appeal any sanction. So currently, if it's not, if the sanction is not a removal of some right or privilege meaning if they've got a written warning, or they've been told to pay something back right now they don't. They don't have the allowance to appeal that. And so we have widened up that appeal, meaning, we are extending more due process to them to allow them to appeal anything that if they are told they have to write an apology letter. They have the right to appeal. That doesn't mean we're going to prove it, but they still have the right to appeal it just like they would any of the sanctions, that is, a loss of a privilege or a removal of some sort. Next slide Now, this is the one for those of you who heard this for the 1st time in May. This is what is the new thing, this automatic appeal for suspensions and expulsions. We just heard this also from Emily's side. When we had 2 students, we had to process through, we just had to expel them, and we reached a point where there was just nothing else we could do. We needed to remove them, and legal came back and said, we wanted them to have an additional due process layer there, meaning that it wasn't going to just be up to the executive Dean to decide whether or not they could appeal if they met these parameters, those same parameters that we just heard? Was there new information? Was there bias in the process, and did we not follow our procedures and process so legal came back and said, You know what it needs to go to the conduct panel that we already have existing. And so now, anytime that a dean wants to sanction a student for suspension or expulsion, it automatically goes to that appeal panel. They will decide whether or not to uphold the Dean's sanction, or if we want to, or they don't agree with that sanction and they're giving a different recommendation. So we just did this with 2 cases, actually, with 3 cases we had 2 expulsions and one suspension. It worked beautifully. And so this is going to be the process. And again, it's just an added layer of due process for the student. It doesn't mean that we are not considering the safety of the community. We are not that we don't care about the safety of anyone else. We do. But from the legal standpoint, they want to make sure that that student has their full rights to appeal, and they have every opportunity to do so. Next slide So these next few ones are new sections, and I want to thank you all who gave comments we have, except for the recent set of comments that we got from Sam. We're going to infuse those in there, too, but for those of you who have already reviewed this. Thank you. It helped us because then we had a situation. Right after we wrote this we had a situation with study abroad, and so it was a good thing we had some kind of guidance that we were going to start following in the future. So we just want to make sure that for the next few slides, you're going to see one for student organizations. There's 1 for instructional programs, athletic programs, and recreational sports. Really, all we're saying is that the student is held to the code of conduct. So if they're violating policies within those programs and then other things, they can be referred to the Dean of Students for additional sanctioning, or a more extensive sanction that could result in a suspension or an expulsion. If you haven't had a chance to look at those sections and how those sections impact your work, then please take a look at it, because we are like, Emily said she is trying to get this through Asap next month, so that we can get this in place by the spring semester. Mervin: So it looks like we have a majority of the members here. We have 11 members present and that's more than a majority. So we could take a vote on this. Okay? And before we take a vote, Patty, you want to give the committee an overview of what the next steps are. Please thank you. Patricia: For the rule. It is a vote, and then it moves forward to the council to be presented in combination with the Academic Integrity, guidelines, and procedures, and the student standards of conduct, guidelines, and procedures that both Emily and Dr. Thomas presented today. So the whole, it's a package. And so that's what we're hoping to present to the council as a package. That way we can get all of this approved in one sitting hopefully. But yes, that's what the next steps are. If the council has questions or recommendations, or feedback or kicks it back to stating, something needs to change or something, they're recommending something, and it's pushed back the rule. Then the SRR committee would have to review those recommendations or suggestions that the Council may have implemented whatever we see that benefits the rule, and then vote again, and then push it forward to the council again. So once the Council approves it, then it goes out for comment once it goes out for comment, it's sent back, and I think it gets the blessing of the Chancellor. So that's usually how that works. REDLINED DRAFT - Academic Integrity and Disciplinary Procedures_11.7.25 Meritza: I will bring it back to ASAC because I am a member of that committee. We'll bring it back to review those comments. But, as Emily said, a lot of these comments came from legal. There are not going to be any changes to the guidance they have provided. Mervin: So before we take a vote, are there any questions? Patricia: I do have a question. Did the committee review before voting? Have they reviewed the rule yet? Meritza: Are we talking about the rule or the Gp? Patricia: I'm talking about the rule. Only. Meritza: Yeah. So remember, I think after our last meeting we had changes also presented for the actual rule for student conduct. I don't. I think we probably just all forgot to add it to the agenda. Nothing was changed. It was things that really just kind of moved around on it. For those of you who made comments, it was nothing that was drastically changed. Do you want to pull it up, Patty? Or do you have access to pull it up? Patricia: I don't know if I have access to pull it up, but I can put it in the chat. REDLINED DRAFT - Academic Integrity and Disciplinary Procedures_11.7.25 Meritza: I think your question, Dean Jones, is, whether or not there were questions on the GPS that we've just presented. Mervin: Exactly; a question about what we're getting ready to vote on. Patricia: So this is the rule that we're looking at, not the GPS. The GPS is linked to the rule. So what I did was any comment that was added to this role, I went ahead and copied and pasted the question and the response underneath it, so we wouldn't lose what the questions were or suggestions. Mervin: Well, I guess we take the time to take a vote. So all in favor, raise your hand. Ten (10) voted yes, one (1) no vote. Alright, the majority rules. So, Patty, we can move it forward.

Mervin: At this time we have no other agenda items to discuss but, is there any new business that we'd like to address even for the next meeting? The next meeting should be in December. I know that we're equipped enough, Sam. Let me give you a summary of nonverbal communication, so let me help you out with that. So you've heard us use the word advocate a lot today, right? So what we're talking about is student advocates, right? And it's like peer-to-peer support? That was another question that Pamela asked. Hey, what kind of support will the student receive? Peer support? Now students can also receive; Emily did a great job giving a litany of support that student affairs provides. We used to be called Student Support, right? Nevertheless, a lot of people that are up and down my hall provide a lot of consultation to students and provide best practices. I'll even spend time speaking with students a lot instead of them filing complaints, talking them through how to go about resolving this from a perspective that's going to be healthier for you and the faculty member to work together a lot of times. You know, they're really quick to be behind their emails and things like that. So anyway, not to belabor this. I just kind of want to provide a little context. So, what we want to do is equip these students in such a way that they understand the student rights and responsibilities. They understand these processes a lot of times. They won't even show up to their conduct proceedings and if they would show up and even take responsibility for their actions, or whatever, a lot of us like me, are focused on making whatever sanctions we employ. The students make sure that they're academic-related; and make sure that they're learning experiences we want. We don't want to run our robot away because all of us want to have a job, right? So we want to make sure that they feel restored, valued, and respected. Sam, you have a question? Sam: It's more of an apology, I think you said. Mervin: Please don't follow it up. Sam: I think you said Student Affairs, and what I heard was Student Life. And I was like, why is student life involved? So I'm pretty sure I just had one of those moments. Mervin: Oh, no! I actually did say Student Life. Sam: Okay. Mervin: Student Life falls underneath Student Affairs. So here's what happens, right? Student Life provides morale and welfare and even leadership training for our students, okay? And so what's the gentleman's name? He's got the best voice I committed. Meritza: His name is Troy. Mervin: Yes Troy. Troy's been charged with this and there have been a lot of changes that have happened in Student Life over the years. Troy's charged with this, but I don't think Troy can do it by himself. Patty, Dr. Tamaz, and myself have a wealth of experience. Kenyetta, who has been asked to do a little bit of everything. She's the best. We want to equip the students and say, Hey, we want to educate you so well. We don't want the students to lie down and say, I'm responsible for allegations they are accused of because there are a lot of situations where students aren't responsible for the things that they're accused of, especially our students on the spectrum or be misunderstood. So a lot of times, it's a conversation that we help students work through. I work with faculty all the time to make sure we do what's in the best interest of the institution and the best interest of the student. I just wanted to kind of give you a little bit of hope. Sam: Appreciate it. I just never realized it wasn't in place. So thank you for explaining the goal of this initiative. Kenyetta: When the commentary is approved, returned, and reviewed, then goes to the Chancellor, is there a timeline for it to be completed or not? Patricia: I was going to say that if approved by the council and we don't have it, we could just send it. Put the amendments into the catalog for them to be official; no marketing there. There's a group of people who work on the catalog: Rachel Benavidez, Rachel Barrera, and someone else. We just have to inform them.

Thank everyone, and adjourn the meeting. Meeting Adjourned: 12:10 pm Next Meeting Date: Dec 13th, 2024 Time: 11:00 am - 12:30 pm Location: Zoom

Thank everyone, and adjourn the meeting.

Meeting Adjourned: 12:10 pm

Next Meeting Date: Dec 13th, 2024

Time: 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

Location: Zoom