Residential Life

Conduct in Residence

Vassar College Houses and Apartment Areas have the following objectives:

• To support academic pursuits in an environment where reading, discussion, writing, computing, thinking, and studying can be accomplished without interference or disruption.
• To ensure that all residents live in a supportive, nurturing, and stimulating community in which individuality is valued and differences are respected.
• To provide all residents with a community in which their health, safety, and security are ensured by the responsible behavior of those around them.
• To provide all residents with an environment in which other residents show care for the facility and its equipment.
• When you move into any residence at Vassar, you are joining a community that is academically diverse, varied in age and lifestyle, and multicultural in nature.

The following policies cover some of the basic expectations relevant to maintaining appropriate student conduct within a comfortable and productive residential environment.

This section of the Residential Handbook is supported by the College Regulations found in the Student Handbook (Part E.)

• Accepting membership into the Vassar College community as a student entails an obligation to promote its welfare by assuming the rights and responsibilities of student citizenship. Each individual member of this community is responsible for his or her own actions and is expected to respect the rights of others.
• Failure to comply with College, City, State, or Federal laws and regulations can result in disciplinary action within the College.
• The creation and maintenance of safe and supportive residential communities is everyone's responsibility. Following the policies and procedures outlined in the College Regulations, and encouraging one's peers and guests to do the same, are steps that individual students can take to uphold community standards.
• Violations of residential community standards and other misconduct should be reported to residential staff or security for investigation and follow-up.

The Office of Residential Life can invoke the following sanctions for misconduct:

• Educational Interventions
• Formal Warning / Censure
• Mandated Service 4. Restitution
• Loss of Privileges
• Ban from a specific facility
• Probation
• Removal from Campus Housing

A student against whom an allegation of offense is made has the following rights and obligations:

• To be presumed innocent until found responsible for having violated a college regulation.
• To have a student conduct meeting conducted in private. The college will endeavor to keep all details of the hearing confidential including names of the accused student, the complainant, and witnesses.
• To have hearing or other student conduct procedures followed unless both parties agree to depart from them, or unless the college deems it necessary to accommodate concerns of personal safety or well-being of the parties involved.
• To be accompanied by a support person from the Vassar College community offering moral support during hearings before the College Regulations Panel.
• To object to the inclusion of any member of the College Regulations Panel.
• To be informed of charges filed in a timely manner, typically within three business days, before meeting with a student conduct administrator or before a hearing by the College Regulations Panel.
• To be granted access to all relevant documents and written statements to be presented as evidence at least 24 hours in advance of a College Regulations Panel hearing.
• To be informed of a panel or administrative decision in writing in a timely manner, typically within three (3) business days.
• To appeal a finding by the College Regulations Panel to the College Regulations Appeal Committee, or appeal a student conduct administrator decision to the Office of the Dean of Students for the reasons outlined in Section

The College reserves the right to assign students to different rooms in the residence system or to terminate Occupancy Agreements on an emergency or temporary basis if such reassignment or termination is necessary or advisable in the interest of health, safety, consolidation of resources, or the conduct of the residence program. When an allegation of misconduct is made against a resident, such measures may be implemented prior to completion of the procedures outlined above for resolution of such charges.

The Office of Residential Life, in accordance with College policies and procedures, will maintain records of cases.