Student Conduct

The Student Code of Conduct outlines what is expected of students, as well as the process that the campus follows if it appears a student may have violated those standards of behavior.  While faculty members and staff can develop specific guidelines for their classrooms, service areas, and offices; there are general behavioral guidelines that apply across disciplines, work areas and activities at Lane, and extend beyond the walls of the classroom. The Incident Report form is available on the main page of this site and is also linked on the Employee landing page of the Lane website.

If it appears that a student may have violated a campus policy, especially the ones outlined in the Student Code of Conduct, you can make a referral to Student Conduct.  Common violations include:

• Failure to obey the directions of a college official
• Disruption of the learning environment

Any employee can report a student of concern or initiate a conduct code citation.  Faculty and staff should go online and fill out an Incident Report form. 

When submitting the information please be detailed and objective.  Describe the incident with as many relevant details as you can. Avoid making judgments or assumptions about the student.  Include witness information and your on-campus contact information. Any personal contact information and possibly witness names will be redacted from the report as appropriate.  Faculty: if this is a classroom incident, please include your desired outcome.

The Student Conduct Officer reviews and acts on the report.  If there has been a violation of the Code, the student is notified and must attend a meeting with the Conduct Officer to discuss the incident.  Most cases are resolved through this meeting.  If the report is not a citation, the report will be assessed for any needed intervention or resources.  

In cases where the student chooses not to participate and does not attend a scheduled meeting, a hold is placed on the student's account and he/she cannot register for classes or get access to grades, transcripts or other records without attending a meeting.  If the student has caused a disruption in class the student may be prevented from going back to the class until he/she attends a meeting with a conduct officer.  If you have cited the student you will be notified about the resolution.

Yes, you can dismiss the student from your class or work area for the day and report the incident as a conduct code violation as described above.  If the student has caused a disruption in class or in a work area you may request that the student be prevented from returning to the class or work area until he/she attends a meeting with a conduct officer. Additional sanctions such as removal from the class or work area may be imposed as a result of the meeting with the conduct code officer, in consultation with the faculty or staff member who initiated the report.

The campus conduct process may occur before, during, or after a criminal process for the same behavior.  For example, a student may face campus conduct charges for assaulting another student on campus, and he/she may also face charges in court.  The campus conduct process has the goals of providing education to individual students while maintaining the campus standards for behavior, so the process and the outcomes are often very different than those of the criminal process, whose goal is justice.  If you are a victim of a crime, you may choose to pursue both processes.

The Campus Public Safety x5555 can respond to immediate emergencies on the main campus.  The Downtown Center Academics Campus Public Safety (541) 463-6267 (direct line to PS officer), (541) 463-5555 or 9-911 in emergency).  Other campus locations should use 911. 

Call immediately whenever:

• You feel physically threatened due to a weapon, direct threat of physical violence, etc.
• Any person is in physical danger – this can include if someone passes out
• Any person is under the influence of drugs or alcohol to the point he/she cannot care for oneself
• To report a crime

You can refer any possible threats to campus safety, or persons of concern, using the Incident Report form for review. If there is a direct threat (i.e. a weapon brandished, a direct threat of violence made towards a person, etc), you should call the Campus Public Safety (5555). The Threat Assessment Team is designed to respond to threats and to guide the campus in early intervention as a form of violence prevention.  The Incident Report form is available to refer any person of concern or any incidents.   

Use the online Incident Report form and provide objective information summarizing the referral.  Include as much information as you're comfortable with.  The basic information to provide includes:

• The name of the individual (and any other available information such as L number)
• A description of the behavior or indicator observed
• Any details related to the incident, including location/course information
• Any effects/impacts of the behavior
• Any attempts to address the behavior, and how the individual responded to those
• Any other known information about the individual that might seem relevant.

The Conduct Officer will review the report.  If there is a threat, it will go through the Threat Assessment Team (TAT).

If you make a student conduct referral, the student does have the right to know and respond to the information.  He/she would be able to know your name as the referring party in most situations.  In some instances your manager, division dean, or campus public safety can be listed as the referral.  This most often happens in cases of personal violence (such as domestic violence, sexual or physical assault) or where there is a legitimate fear of retaliation or if you feel threatened.

Many referrals result in an intervention where a student receives information about his/her behavior and about resources that may be of assistance. You may choose to talk with the student to see if he/she would benefit from a campus or community resource. There are a variety of campus resources available, including: Counseling, Advising, the Health Clinic, Gender Equity Center, Multicultural Center, Center for Accessible Resources. Ideally, you can help connect a student to one of these resources by informing him/her about them or even walking him/her over to the office. If you are unsure of how to best approach a situation, feel free to call one of these offices or a Student Conduct or Student Complaint Officer for assistance (see contacts below). You can also consult the Referral Matrix for students of concern which is also linked through the Students of Concern link on the Employee tab of the Lane webpage.

While there is no law or rule against being creepy or odd, you are also not expected to ignore your own feelings.  It helps to pause and think about the behaviors that are evoking the reaction in you, not just the personality of the student.  Depending on the situation, you can always report it a student or incident that is cause for concern.  Sometimes a person has already been referred and your information might help complete an understanding of the person's current state of mind.  While there is not a hard rule about when to report "creepy" behaviors, it is always better to err on the side of caution.  If it is a student in your class, it helps to have already built a relationship so that you can better understand the individual and assess if the behaviors are new/unusual, or if they are just part of someone's personality.  You are always welcome to call any of the contacts below and consult with someone if you are not sure what to do.

If a student exhibits behavior beyond your scope of influence (brings a weapon, is incapacitated due to alcohol, attempts physical violence, etc), call Campus Public Safety and they will remove a student from class.  If a student causes a significant disruption (i.e. yelling, throwing things) and does not respond to your requests to behave in accordance with the communicated standards, the typical practice is to tell the student to leave for that class period, and cite the student for a violation of the code of conduct using the Incident Report form.  You should plan to address the behavior prior to the next class, and you may want to consult with your manager or division dean.  A student cannot be removed permanently from your course or work area unless through the process outlined in the Student Code of Conduct.

Sanctions vary from a warning to expulsion. More information is available in the Student Code of Conduct.  The most common sanctions are typically warnings and educational conversations, where the student and the Conduct Officer discuss the incident and the student explores better ways to act in the future. Other sanctions include: visiting another campus office to learn about resources, probationary status, and suspension from the campus for a designated period of time. Students may also be referred to Counseling, anger management, or other resources. In cases of threat, students may be trespassed from the college community. The goals of sanctions are to help the student learn and succeed, but also to uphold the standards and safety of the Lane campus community.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects the privacy of student education records.  It does allow for sharing of information within the college if there is a "legitimate educational interest." This means that if you need the information in order to complete part of your job responsibilities, you can have access to it. For example, if you refer an academic honesty case to Student Conduct, you would need to know if the student is found responsible or not since the grade in the course might depend on it.  However, if a student in your class has a conduct referral for alcohol use and it has nothing to do with your course, you would not need to know that information. You would be always informed if there is a legitimate threat, but you might not be informed if a student in your class is being investigated or assessed.

Faculty members have the responsibility for the academic experience in the classroom.  This means that it is up to the faculty member to communicate the academic standards—including violations of those standards, such as cheating, plagiarism, and inappropriate collaboration.  The faculty member is also the one who determines if violations of the academic standards occurred.  If you believe that a student has engaged in academic dishonesty, you should have a conversation with the student about the incident, and how to avoid it in the future.  If you believe the student violated the academic standards, you can issue an appropriate academic grade penalty.  These are often set within departments or divisions, and vary from allowing a rewrite of an assignment to failure of an assignment or course.  Regardless of whether you issue an academic grade penalty, you should report the incident to Student Conduct using the online Incident Report form.