by Alana Laanui |
Before stepping into the conduct hearing room, I expected to see the setup of a courtroom. A Judge Judy-like figure would be sitting on a high pedestal wearing a black robe, ready to pass judgment on her next victim. Meanwhile, I would be expected to fend for myself during an interrogation.
I was wrong. It seems, rather, that the conduct process at UP is set up to make students feel as comfortable as possible.
Alex Hermanny, associate director for community standards at UP, created a fake situation so that I could experience the conduct process firsthand. After experiencing a mock hearing, I was relieved to find out that the Judge Judy fantasy I had in mind was completely false.
Before coming to the mock hearing, I received an electronic notice informing me of the conduct process. The letter laid out the specifics of the hearing and what the reported offense was. It also mentioned that I was able to bring a support person with me in order to make the process more comfortable. This letter is just sent to the student, not his or her parents.
Any student can bring a support person into the hearing with them. This person can provide silent support for the student throughout the process and can be a student, faculty or staff member of the UP community.
“We want you to feel like you are not walking into this stressful thing by yourself,” Hermanny said. “A support person is able to talk about who this person is beyond the incident report.”
When actually walking into the hearing room, I was surprised to find just a regular conference room. No pedestals, no dark gowns, just a long table. Hermanny and Sarah Meiser, the associate director of housing, conducted the mock hearing and started by emphasizing the transparency of the process.
“This is not an interrogation. It is a conversation” Meiser said.
Conduct officers usually start off with open-ended questions such as, “What happened on the night of the incident?”
Hermanny says questions like this allow students to tell their side of the story, which may not have been captured in the incident report. Most hearings last between 20-45 minutes, and students are constantly welcomed to ask questions if they are confused.
A student may either have a standard hearing or a formal hearing. In a formal hearing, which occurs for offenses such as drug use, the option of suspension is on the table. However, Hermanny said it’s not the goal of conduct officers to suspend students, and most of these hearings do not end in suspension.
“We are very pro-student, even though sometimes it doesn’t feel that way,” Hermanny said. “We are trying to keep the students on a path that makes them successful and safe.”
Decisions about what is next for the student don’t come right after the conduct hearing. Students are welcomed to write a reflection paper about the incident that will help conduct hearing officers like Hermanny and Meiser make a decision. The student is later called into Hermanny’s office where he reads the decision and gives the student an opportunity to ask any questions.
“The ultimate goal for all of this is so people can remain in the community, be really successful members of the community and to be able to work towards getting their degree at UP,” Hermanny said.
Alana Laanui is a reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at laanui18@up.edu or on Twitter @AlanaLaanui.
