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When a student(s) violates the General Code of Student Conduct, the college will assert its disciplinary authority. In addressing disciplinary concerns, Northwest College supports the concept of administrative and college community review. This means that situations which violate college policies, rules, and regulations will be handled by administrators, students, and faculty members drawn from within the college community. The Student Conduct System seeks to provide a fair and equitable process for reviewing and responding to such incidents.
The General Code of Student Conduct system is not based on a judicial model, but its procedures have been developed to ensure that a student involved in any disciplinary matter is treated with fairness and in a manner consistent with other students. Review meetings with hearing officers and the Student Appeals Board are designed to give all parties the opportunity to identify concerns, explain perceptions, explore behavior and hear suggestions. The emphasis is placed on student behavior and its relationship to commitments and responsibilities inherent in accepting membership in the college community.
Inherent in the General Code of Student Conduct system is an element of flexibility which enables the college to address core issues of behavior. Since each student is an individual, each incident will be handled individually. Each person may not receive the same sanction for a similar policy violation, but each sanction given will be within a framework of consistency and fairness.
In order to find that a student has violated a standard of conduct, the burden of proof required is a preponderance of evidence, i.e. does the evidence demonstrate that it is/was more likely than not that the conduct occurred. Any relevant evidence may be considered if it is the sort of evidence on which responsible persons are accustomed to rely in the conduct of serious affairs.