17 September 2008

Colleges & Universities Crack Down on Off-Campus Violations

by Chris Neiger

A little while ago the AP ran a story about colleges and universities extending the enforcement of their conduct codes to students who who commit violations off campus.

It's way of making sure students are obeying the conduct codes they agreed to abide by while on campus (and in some cases off campus), but some people think the education institutions are over-stepping their bounds on how they keep tabs on their students. The story mentions that Duke University states in its student code of behavior that a student is required to notify the university if they see a fellow student violating the code of conduct. Whether on campus or not.

Seattle University has used Facebook to find and shut down parties while Boston College sends out a college official to find students at parties and other locations to try to catch them in illegal activities. The story didn't mention any specific cases of students bringing lawsuits against schools for this enforcement, but they did interview an attorney who formerly worked with the American Council on Education that said that he expects challenges to this kind of enforcement in the future...

We want to hear from you about this story. Post your comments below or discuss your thoughts in the Education forum.

 

Comments

# brandon carpenter said:

I feel that educational institutions are definitely crossing boundaries when it comes to their student conduct codes. When a student is off-campus and is breaking the "conduct code" I feel that the educational institution has no right to get involved. I feel that they would only have a right to get involved when the student(s) are representing the educational institution in some way or form. What a student does off-campus will not give the educational institution a bad name. It's a completely different story when the student is on-campus.

I don't feel that educational institutions should count on students to turn in other students if they notice that they are breaking a "conduct code". Especially if they are off campus. Whatever students do off-campus is their own business and theirs only. You can't expect students to turn in one of their very own classmates. That is not their responsibility. It's a educational institutions responsibility to keep all of their student safe. They shouldn't be pushing off some of their responsibility off to some of the students.

When it comes to facebook and educational institutions shutting down parties. There are many different things to look at. It's one thing when the parties are on the property of educational sessions and it's another when they are not. Why does an educational institution care so much when it's not on-campus. It's not during opening hours and these parties again are not representing their educational institution.

Educational institutions need to have another look. They need to worry about on-campus "conduct code" violations or parties. It's none of their business to worry about what happens off-campus. They are not the ones that will be responsible if something goes wrong.

"b"

17 September 08 at 5:46 PM
# Michael said:

I don't  believe it is ok for educational institutions to extend the enforcement of their conduct codes off campus.

20 October 08 at 2:31 PM
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