Section IV: Violations of the Law

Alleged violations of federal, state, and local laws may be investigated and addressed under the Code of Student Conduct. When an offense occurs over which the University has jurisdiction, the University student conduct process will usually go forward notwithstanding any criminal complaint that may arise from the same incident.

The University reserves the right to exercise its authority of interim suspension upon notification that a student is facing criminal investigation and/or complaint. Interim suspensions are imposed until a hearing can be held, typically within two weeks. Within that time, the suspended student may request an immediate hearing from the Dean of Students or Assistant Dean of Students to show cause as to why the interim suspension should be lifted. This hearing may resolve the allegation, or may be held to determine if the interim suspension should be continued. The interim suspension may be continued if a danger to the community is posed and the University may be delayed or prevented from conducting its own investigation and resolving the allegation by the pendency of the criminal process. In such cases, the University will only delay its hearing until such time as it can conduct an internal investigation or obtain sufficient information independently or from law enforcement upon which to proceed. This delay will be no longer than two weeks from notice of the incident unless a longer delay is requested in writing by the complaining victim to allow the criminal investigation to proceed before the University process.

Students accused of crimes may request to take a leave from the University until the criminal charges are resolved. In such situations, the University procedure for voluntary leaves of absence is subject to the following conditions:

• The responding student must comply with all campus investigative efforts that will not prejudice their defense in the criminal trial; and
• The responding student must comply with all interim actions and/or restrictions imposed during the leave of absence; and
• The responding student must agree that, in order to be reinstated to active student status, they must first be subject to, and fully cooperate with, the University conduct process and must comply with all sanctions that are imposed.