Every year questions seem to arise surrounding the university’s Code of Student Conduct. The questions change every year, but the foundation of some of those questions remain the same. What is the role of the Code of Student Conduct within a university environment? Just what right does the university have in telling its students what they can and cannot do? When should the personal rights given by the US Constitution and the expectations of the university be allowed to differ, or can they? These questions have not only been debated here at Northeastern, but at campuses across the country, in the courts and throughout history.
In 1957, former Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter opined in Sweezy v. New Hampshire that, “It is the business of a university to provide that atmosphere which is most conducive to speculation, experimentation and creation. It is an atmosphere in which there prevail ‘the four essential freedoms’ of a university – to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught and who may be admitted to study.”
History shows that arguments regarding the boundaries of the college or university’s ability to set expectations regarding behavior have continued. Throughout the 20th century and continuing into the 21st century, the in loco parentis doctrine has continued (i.e. the institution as the students’ parents).
Within a university there lies somewhere the principles of what we want a student to be when they graduate. At Northeastern, we state this in our vision statement, available on Northeastern’s website. Hopefully, these values are taught, questioned, emulated through appropriate behavior and, finally, integrated in each student as they mature and graduate from Northeastern.
But values cannot be just taught in a classroom. They must be developed and embraced individually, by each one of us. This will occur in choices we make every day, both in and outside the classroom. The Code of Student Conduct is an essential part of representing and relaying the vision of the university in all areas, and primarily in supporting our values. We must do this through providing a Code of Student Conduct that upholds the University’s vision and its values. At Northeastern we have recognized that we are a community of students, faculty and staff, and as such have consistently requested involvement of all three constituencies in evaluating our Code of Student Conduct and our expectations regarding behavior. This year is no different.
We need your input in this process and as such, you are invited to take the opportunity to have your voice heard. We are seeking to receive constructive feedback from students, faculty and staff, regarding what you want to see reviewed, and what you think works now that you would like kept. We also want to answer any questions you have about current policies and procedures. We encourage you to attend a forum on Tuesday, January 22, from 6 – 7 p.m., in the Raytheon Ampitheatre of the Egan Center, where you will have the opportunity to share your thoughts for the Code Review Committee to integrate into its review of the Student Code for the 2008 – 2009 academic year. If you cannot attend have input you want considered, you may contact the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution via email at [email protected]. We urge you to be involved in helping improve a system that must support our University’s vision and values.
– Valerie Randall-Lee is director of the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution.
