Director of the Department of Student Rights and Community Standards Dean Gendron will create a campuswide committee to conduct a yearlong review of the student citizenship model, including the Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook and the Student Conduct System.Gendron said that the committee, which will be formed in the near future, will include both undergraduate and graduate constituents. Both Gendron and Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer said that the Department of Student Rights and Community Standards would be collaborating with the Student Union and the Office of Student Rights and Advocacy, as well as other groups on campus. Student Union President Andy Hogan '11 confirmed that he had been in contact with both Gendron and Sawyer over the summer.

Sawyer said that a full review of the student conduct process and the judicial process has not taken place for 25 years and that it would be, "professionally and community-wise, remiss not to review it periodically."

"We're beginning the conversation [by discussing and looking at] the conduct process; that's really the focus of the exercise at this point," said Gendron. He added that he thought the conduct process could not realistically be dealt with separately from the Rights and Responsibilities because so much of the conduct process overlaps with that document. He said that as changes are made to the conduct process, corresponding changes will likely have to be made to parts of the handbook.

Gendron said, "The next collection of conversations will be about the constituent groups who are represented on this campuswide committee ... to make sure that we are identifying the voices that need to be heard."

Gendron said that the committee would aim to explore the ways in which conflicts on campus are resolved and possibly change and expand upon the procedures currently in place. He mentioned the possibility of mediated resolution either by professionals or trained students as a prior option to formalizing the issue.

When asked how the committee would conduct its review, Sawyer deferred to Gendron, but said, "I imagine it would be a matrix and combination of simply reviewing what we have with the committee; I'm sure they will want to learn about the historical factors that went into our current process. ... I bet you they will examine what other schools are doing. I bet they will have almost like Senate hearings."

Gendron said that any changes that were made would not take effect this year but would most likely be in place at the beginning of the next academic year.

When asked what he hoped the committee would accomplish, Hogan said that "the goal is to make the process simpler on all parties." Gendron added, "I will be perfectly satisfied if we come to some agreement about the contemporary nature of the process, whether or not the process is accomplishing the goals that it is set out to do." Gendron is aware that the committee might come to the conclusion that the process warrants no changes, but he is also prepared for a situation in which the committee advocates sweeping changes to the process.



-Nashrah Rahman contributed reporting