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Adjudication Process

The following applies to violations of the Code of Conduct. However, process statements under Belmont’s Academic Honor Code and Sexual Misconduct Policies may differ from statements in this section. Those differences supersede information provided here.

  • Terms

Accountability Procedures

A full description of the process can be found in the Bruin Guide. Information in the Bruin Guide supersedes information presented on the website.

1. Notice:

When an Incident has occurred, a student will be provided notice of the Incident via a Notice of Community Responsibilities by an Authorized University Official electronically via email.

A Notice of Community Responsibilities is delivered to the student’s Belmont e-mail address and is considered to provide the student with notice of the Incident. In accordance with University policy, students are expected to check their e-mail daily.

Failure or refusal to respond to notice of the Incident (i.e., not checking campus mail, avoiding attempted contact efforts by University officials, etc.) may result in an Inquiry being conducted in the student’s absence and Consequences being assigned (see Pre-Inquiry).

2. Pre-Inquiry (Information Session):

Once notice has been provided, a student should contact the University Representative indicated on the Notice of Community Responsibilities within the two business days following the issue date of the Notice of Community Responsibilities in order to schedule an information session and/or inquiry.

University Representatives reserve the right to schedule an Inquiry time, date and location at his/her sole discretion and may take under consideration such factors as student’s schedule, Accountability Officer(s) schedule, prejudice to the student of delaying the Inquiry date, the time necessary to collect information, nature of the alleged violation(s) and other factors. Information sessions and inquiries may be conducted on the same day.

A student’s failure or refusal to contact the appropriate University Representative within the allotted two business days will be treated as the student’s acceptance of responsibility for all alleged violations, will waive any privilege to an Information Session and will result in an Inquiry being scheduled and conducted in the student’s absence.

3. Inquiry:

An Inquiry is a closed meeting involving only those who have information regarding what happened, the optional Advisor, and those responsible for the Accountability Process.

During an Inquiry, the student will have the opportunity to challenge or clarify University Information related to the Incident and present his/her own Information related to the Incident.

The Accountability Officer(s) will determine whether Information is relevant to what happened during an Incident and may redirect a person if Information is determined to be irrelevant.

The Accountability Officer(s) may take action against a person or Advisor who is interfering with the Inquiry in his or her sole discretion. Such action includes—but is not limited to—halting the Inquiry, rescheduling the Inquiry, or removing the person or Advisor from the Inquiry and proceeding in his or her absence.

Outcome Letter:

Decisions regarding responsibility and Consequences, if any, will be delivered to the student in writing through the student’s Belmont e-mail address. The student is considered to have received the Outcome Letter upon the letter being sent via e-mail.

Appeals:

Accountability Officer(s) decisions related to responsibility or Consequences can be appealed, provided that one or more of the reasons for appeal is relevant to the case. A written request should be completed and submitted to the Director of Community Accountability within two business days from the date the student receives the Community Accountability Outcome Letter. The appeal request form is attached to the outcome letter.

The Director of Community Accountability will review the request to determine if the request meets the grounds for an appeal. The request should state the reason(s) for appeal and the supporting facts. In order for an appeal to be considered valid, the request and supporting facts must be directly connected to one or more of the reasons(s) for appeal. If the appeal fails to meet the reason(s) for appeal, then the appeal will be denied. Student(s) will be notified that their appeal was denied due to failure to connect their request to one or more of the reasons(s) for appeal.

The reasons for appeal are limited to:

  1. Procedural error, which had a bearing on the original decisions.
  2. New information that was not available at the time of the Inquiry which had a bearing on the original decision(s).
  3. Information demonstrating that there is no way a reasonable person could have arrived at decisions similar to the original decisions absent bias.

If the appellate officer grants an appellate review, he or she will review the request within 15 business days. The Appellate Officer has the option of affirming the original decision(s) regarding responsibility and Consequences, affirming the original decision(s) regarding responsibility and modifying the Consequences, or reversing the original decisions regarding responsibility and Consequences. All appellate responses are final.