Staff Volunteers Needed for Student Conduct Hearings

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 13:11:58 -0500

A message from Student Conduct and Community Standards:

As you may know, we conduct full and formal judicial review hearings for students who request them. A student might request a board hearing if they are charged with something serious, for which the termination of their housing contract or disciplinary suspension/dismissal is a likely outcome. They might also request a hearing if they are refuting the charges and believe they are not responsible for the alleged misconduct.

Our Code of Student Conduct specifies that judicial boards are composed of between 2-4 students and one faculty or staff member. If you have been in a hearing before, you know that our board members are well-trained, thoughtful, and rigorous in their questioning. Although we have many "friends of Student Conduct" that have volunteered to help out in the faculty/staff capacity, I want to avoid repeatedly shoulder-tapping these same folks, if possible.

So I'd like to open up this opportunity for others to assist us in this crucial aspect of our operation. This is a chance for you to foster the accountability-taking and ethical decision-making capacity of our students and also to get a "good student affairs experience." Unfortunately, most of the staff in Residential Life and Retriever Integrated Health have baked-in conflicts that prevent them from serving in this capacity, so I am turning to my other DoSA colleagues and UMBC friends. Here are the hearing dates and times (ALL VIRTUAL, AT THIS TIME!) that I have lined up thus far for the Spring Semester of 2022 (please consider signing up for the early dates--including this coming Friday!--which are typically the hardest for me to fill):

Friday, March 4 from 1:00-6:00 PM

Friday, April 1 from 1:00-6:00 PM

Friday, April 15 from 1:00-6:00 PM

Friday, April 22 from 1:00-3:00 PM (Appellate Board)

Friday, April 29 from 1:00-6:00 PM

Friday, May 6 from 1:00-6:00 PM

Friday, May 13 from 9:00 AM-11:00 AM (Appellate Board)

Wednesday, May 18 (Study Day) from 9:00 AM-1:00 PM

Wednesday, May 18 (Study Day) from 1:00-6:00 PM

Here are a few caveats: 1) Before you volunteer, make sure you are in conversation with your supervisor, and 2) Our hearings occasionally run past 5:00 PM, so if you are on a tight timeline because of family or social commitments, just be aware that once you commit it is really important to have you be available "for the duration" whatever that ends up looking like.

With all that said, please consult your calendar and email me with the date(s) you are available and willing to help out. I will reply and ask you to put a tentative hold on your calendar and then confirm the specific time and nature of the hearing when we get closer to the actual date. Thanks again for your support of this important task!

Regards,

Jeff Cullen, Ph.D., Director
Student Conduct and Community Standards