The Student Government Committee on Student Outreach has taken the first steps to change the University Code of Student Conduct after discovering a clause that forbids students from sharing notes with one another.
 
Sens. Sarah Lockwood and Allison Robison, University Center for Advising and Counseling, suggested changes at Monday’s committee meeting. They said they wanted to make the code less formal and easier for students to understand.
 
“We want to make sure that [students] know exactly what’s going on so they can be prepared for these situations,” Robison said.
 
The main changes will occur in a clause that bans students from sharing “unauthorized work,” which includes “other written work.” Many of the committee members expressed their concerns about the ambiguity of the statement, because “other written work” could be considered any document provided by a professor.
 
“Right now, it’s saying that it’s illegal to share your syllabus with someone else,” said Sen. Landon Hester, UCAC.
 
Lockwood said professors frequently say students who miss class should go to other students for notes, instead of bothering professors, which could be considered a violation under the current code.
 
Another vague clause banning students from sharing unauthorized work, including “technological messages,” raised concerns.
 
The committee decided to clarify “technological messages” by
saying “mass distribution of class notes or other class materials not publicly presented by the teacher cannot be distributed via mass message.”
 
Lockwood also proposed changing a clause that says “hearsay is admissible” to “hearsay is not admissible,” because it may be unfair for someone to accuse another of cheating.
 
Under suggestion from Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Aaron Caffarel, the committee will also begin work on an academic integrity clause. On PAWS, there will be two to three paragraphs summarizing the code which students will have to accept as they agree to the fee bill.
 
The revised version of the code will be referred to other committees and will be debated on the Senate floor in about two weeks. If the changes are approved by the Senate, they will go to the Faculty Senate for final approval.
 
“I think it will be a great change for students because there were so many ambiguous clauses in the student code of conduct,” Lockwood said. “We’re trying to protect them from any unnecessary accusations.”
 
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Contact Andrea Gallo at
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