• The Old Dominion University Board of Visitors is authorized to regulate student conduct by state statute. The Board has designated the Vice President for Student Affairs as the responsible official for the administration of all student discipline. The Board's adopted regulations and procedures are contained in the Student Disciplinary Policies and Procedures.
• Minimal due process standards at a public institution require the University to provide accused students with notice and an opportunity to be heard before sanctions can be imposed for alleged misconduct. The Student Disciplinary Policies and Procedures establishes the process we must follow to resolve any alleged violation of University policy, including classroom disruption and academic dishonesty offenses. Strict adherence to these procedures is essential.
• A determination about whether or not a student engaged in a policy violation is a question of fact that is to be decided by a Hearing Officer in the Office of Student Conduct & Academic Integrity.
  Exception: Faculty may meet with a student to reach informal resolution in case of suspected academic dishonesty so long as the established procedures are followed (see pgs 7-10 of the Student Disciplinary Policies and Procedures). Before sanctions can be imposed in such cases, the student must acknowledge the act of Academic Dishonesty. Please see the Academic Dishonesty Procedures for more information about this faculty/student option.
• The student judicial system and external civil/criminal courts are separate entities with distinct processes and outcomes (though it is possible that a student may be charged with a violation of the Code of Student Conduct while he/she is also facing concurrent criminal or civil charges which result from the same offense). In a University setting, the student judicial process is a non-adversarial procedure that serves primarily to support the institution's educational mission and protect the campus community (rather than merely punish students for proven violations of institutional rules).

Classroom Disruption

• The primary responsibility for managing classroom conduct resides with faculty. Establishing clear and reasonable expectations for responsible conduct at the beginning of a semester (through classroom discussions and syllabus statements) can assist faculty members in preventing classroom disruptions.
• Students are required to comply with reasonable requests of University officials acting in the performance and scope of their duties. Therefore, a faculty member may direct a student to leave a class for the remainder of the class period if the student is exhibiting behaviors that substantially or materially disrupt teaching and/or learning. Should such instances occur, faculty should promptly send a memorandum describing the incident to the Office of Student Conduct & Academic Integrity so that the student may be considered for a referral through the judicial process. (It is recommended that asking a student to leave a class be a "last resort" and that less severe interventions be used first, such as: issuing a general word of caution to all students about appropriate classroom conduct; a private conversation with the student after class; or a gentle, but firm, statement asking the student to cease the disruptive behavior).
• Progressive discipline involves communicating advanced expectations, addressing misconduct promptly, and responding in ways that are proportionate to the offense. Therefore, faculty should discuss expectations early and often in their courses and in their syllabi. Misconduct should be addressed as it arises in order to address the behavior at the lowest necessary level. Allowing unacceptable behaviors to exist unchallenged may result in the repetition of misconduct, often with an escalated degree of severity and/or impact. Faculty and student interests are generally not served by such deferred confrontation, and the educational value of the student conduct process may be diminished when the misconduct is eventually referred to
  the Student Conduct & Academic Integrity for resolution.

Academic Dishonesty

• Faculty would be wise to assume all students do not share the same understanding of responsible academic conduct, even in upper-division or graduate-level courses where it is often presumed students understand appropriate citation methods. Accordingly, it is strongly recommended that faculty refer students to appropriate resources and/or take time to educate students about citation methods toward the end of avoiding unintentional plagiarism. The
  Honor Council and the Office of Student Conduct & Academic Integrity may be called upon to assist in this effort. Faculty are also strongly encouraged to communicate clear expectations in advance of assignments, such as when collaboration is permissible (if at all) for in- and out-of-class work.
• In cases of suspected academic dishonesty, no grade sanction should be assigned by the faculty member until the faculty member and the accused student have either reached an agreement as to the appropriate outcome (by completing and signing the Academic Dishonesty Report Form) or after a Hearing Officer has determined that the accused student violated one or more standards of academic dishonesty as alleged by the faculty member. If the matter proceeds to a formal hearing with Student Conduct & Academic Integrity and cannot be resolved prior to the deadline for submitting grades to the Registrar's Office, the faculty member should assign the grade of "I" until the final disposition of the case is available.