WSU task force recommends changes to student conduct code

After months of deliberation, a task force at Washington State University has proposed changes to the school’s student conduct code to make it more fair, less punitive and more transparent.

The student conduct process came under fire after several WSU football players were accused of violent crimes last year. An independent review by a Coeur d’Alene law firm published in March found the process may be biased against some groups of students, such as football players and fraternity members. WSU also faced pressure to expand the process after a state appeals court in December found that the university inappropriately expelled a 40-year-old doctoral student who’d been accused of raping a 15-year-old girl.

The 15-member task force, assembled by WSU President Kirk Schulz, met regularly from December through April and will continue its work during the summer, according to a news release. Students will have opportunities to weigh in on the group’s recommendations during public hearings at each WSU campus next fall.

“We’ve made excellent progress,” Craig Hemmens, chairman of both the task force and WSU’s criminology department, said in the news release. “We’ve examined best-in-class conduct processes used by other universities and reviewed current research in the field.”

The task force said:

Conduct board members should be trained in cultural competency and implicit bias, conflict of interest, and sexual assault and gender-based violence.

Students should have access to conduct advisers who can provide both “procedural” and “substantive” guidance. In full adjudicative hearings – the expanded process that the state appeals court ordered – students should have the right to an attorney.

WSU should ensure that students are informed of their rights, and that those rights are protected during the conduct process.

In appropriate cases, the student conduct officer should consider whether “alternative dispute resolution” may be suitable to resolve a matter.

Sanctioning guidelines should be published online, and they should explain in plain language what disciplinary actions may be taken for a given rule violation.

Those recommendations align closely with changes proposed by the Coeur d’Alene law firm, Lyons O’Dowd. The firm also made the following proposals:

Require that all sanctioning decisions be unanimous.

Send notices of misconduct to students’ athletic coaches or Greek advisers.

Expand the conduct board from five to seven members to mitigate the influence of any single member.

Any changes to the student conduct code will require approval by the WSU Board of Regents. The revised rules are expected to be in place by 2018.