the Informer

Residents for the 2010-2011 school year might be surprised to find out the strike system and status systems that were once in place for student conduct have been abolished. But don’t be too quick to crank up the bass and move that pong tournament to the Village lawn. With no strike or status system in place, it means possibly stricter punishment for student conduct violations. Ultimately, however, the system hasn’t been changed so much as tweaked, and will end up being more beneficial for the majority of students living on campus. “What we’ve done is gotten rid of strikes and statuses completely and we are making our practice match what our policy is,” said Michelle Huston, Assistant Director of Student Conduct. She explained that in years past, the strike system on top of the status system was a confusing policy because students thought the two were one in the same. “Students had the impression they could only be removed from campus if they had 3 strikes when the reality was if somebody punched 20 people in the face and posed a threat to the university, we aren’t going to let them stay on campus,” Huston joked. Now, without the strike system in place, a student can be removed from campus after just one offense if it is severe enough. However, punishment for offenses can be catered to each student individually. “Everything is more case by case and individualized. If you can show you’re committed to doing good you won’t necessarily be removed from campus,” Huston said. When making the decision to suspend a student for an offense, three factors are considered: the severity of the situation, the conversation the student has with their conduct officer, and the conduct history of that particular student. Because of this, in many cases students will benefit in the long run. In years past a student was limited to a “3 strikes, you’re out” policy no matter how minor the situation was. “A student could technically be suspended for having one beer can [on his or her person] on three different occasions when in reality the situation could be much more severe,” said Huston. Besides affecting punishment for conduct offenses, the abolishment of the status system will change the opportunity students get to obtain housing for the following school year, and in most cases for the better. With the status system in place, a student who was at a status two was allowed to request housing only after the students who were status one, this often meant they were out of luck when housing filled up before it was their time to even show up. However a student will now know right away whether they will be allowed to select housing, as opposed to having to guess whether or not they would make it to room selection with time to spare and rooms still open. Now, instead of being based on status, room selection will be solely based on student conduct. This means when a student has their meeting with their student conduct officer after committing an offense, they will know on the spot whether they are allowed to participate in room selection. In the event that a student is barred from the housing selection day, they are allowed to appeal the decision, or can select housing anytime after May 1. All in all the tailored system was created in order to aid students while still enforcing the rules. “There’s a lot more flexibility to work together and to try and keep students here, removing a student from housing is the last thing we want to do,” said Huston. Sophomores who had a bit of a rough first year aren’t on the verge of striking out yet, but don’t try to overdo it because penalization could always be lurking around the corner.