Office of Student Conduct

Incident reports, campus security reports, and police reports are reviewed by the Office of Student Conduct.  Involved individuals will be invited to discuss the incident with a Student Conduct Investigator.

• Student engages in or observes behavior that may be against policies
• A concern is reported to the Conduct Office from a reporting party (https://www.ocean.edu/student-services/report-a-concern/).
• Office of Student Conduct receives the report
• Case is assigned to a Student Conduct Investigator for investigation
• Notice of Investigation and Alleged Violation sent to all parties (reporting party and responding party). NOTE: Interim measures may be enacted while the investigation proceeds to support involved parties.
• Conduct Administrator meetings will begin with students to go over incident report. NOTE: If additional alleged violations are found during the investigation, an additional Notice of Alleged Violations will be sent to the responding and reporting parties.
• Conduct Administrator determines whether the responding party is or is not responsible for the alleged violation(s) and forwards their report to the Executive Director of Student Services.

Responsible

A Notice of Responsibility will be delivered to all parties of the finding(s) and sanction(s).

Not Responsible

If there is insufficient evidence through the investigation to support reasonable cause, the allegations will be closed with no further action.

Student Accepts Findings

Student accepts the findings by not responding to the notification and allowing seven business days to pass. In this case, the sanctions are applied and the process ends.

Student Rejects Findings

Student rejects the finding(s) and/or the sanction(s) by filing an appeal within seven business days to the Vice President of Student Affairs (VPSA).

• The VPSA will review all appeal requests and determine if there is a reasonable cause as defined by the code that the grounds for an appeal have been met.
  • Denied basis for an appeal – the responding student will be notified within seven business days. This decision is final and ends the process.
  • Approved basis for an appeal – the responding student will be notified and the case/appeal will be reviewed by an Administrative Review Panel (ARP) within 10 business days of the approval.
  • ARP confidentially reviews all case documentation and decides if the appeal is approved or denied by a simple majority vote.
    • • Appeal approved – the panel may remove or revise the sanctions. In this case, the process ends and no further appeals may be filed by any party.
      • Appeal approved (procedural error) – A new investigation begins with a new Conduct Administrator as the lead. If the outcome of this investigation finds the responding party responsible, a trained Administrator from the ARP with no connection to the case will determine and issue the appropriate sanction(s).