Conduct Process

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A. Initiating Charges

Any person may make a complaint and request a review of the alleged actions of a student that may violate the New York Tech Student code of Conduct, federal or state law, or local ordinances. A review for possible violations of the code of Conduct may be initiated in the following ways:

Filing an incident report with New York Tech campus security or requesting the submission of a report from another law enforcement agency to campus security. Campus security will forward all incident reports involving the conduct of students to the Dean of Students (or designee).
Providing a written and signed statement to the Dean of Students (or designee) or Office of Residence Life. A New York Tech official receiving the complaint may transcribe a complainant's verbal complaint into writing. Written statements should be sent to the appropriate office responsible for handling the incident, based on the person(s) involved or location of incident (see Section C, below). Any statement submitted in writing from an email account must come from the person's official New York Tech account if the person is a member of the New York Tech community. The appropriate conduct officer will determine the appropriate course of action for the complaint. The student conduct officer or student conduct body reserves the right to request additional documentation, if appropriate.
If the student conduct officer determines that documentation is insufficient or there are no grounds to file charges on behalf of New York Tech, no charges will be filed and the individual initiating the report will be notified about the decision.

B. Filing Time

Reports must be filed with the appropriate New York Tech official within ninety (90) business days of the incident or knowledge about the incident except in cases of alleged Gender-Based Misconduct, for which reports must typically be filed within twelve (12) calendar months of the incident or knowledge about the incident; however, New York Tech reserves the right to exercise professional discretion to extend these filing times to remain in compliance with applicable laws or for health and safety reasons.

C. Notice of Alleged Violation

In general, a student alleged to be in violation of the Student code of Conduct will receive notice of the alleged violation, including specific section(s) of the code(s) under consideration, and a brief description of alleged offense(s), within fifteen (15) business days from receipt of an incident report or written statement. This timeframe may be extended by an additional ten (10) business days to accommodate university break periods.

There are two exceptions to the above notice:

Allegations of Gender-Based Misconduct will follow the Notice and Investigation Procedures in Appendix A upon referral of a complaint from the Title IX Coordinator. Upon completion of the investigation described in Appendix A, the case will continue to the Information Meeting below).
In cases which do not involve allegations of Gender-Based Misconduct, the student conduct officer may still determine that a more thorough investigation is necessary before proceeding to an information meeting. New York Tech will provide notice to the student regarding the expected additional timeframes and steps needed for investigation prior to the information meeting, which will not be unreasonably delayed.

When an alleged offense implicates the rights of a complainant (for example, in the case of alleged endangerment, gender-based misconduct, hazing, property damage or theft), that individual will be given notice of the allegations at the same time as the respondent (who is the student alleged to be in violation of the code).

After receiving notice of the allegations, or upon completion of the investigation where necessary, each of the parties will be provided an opportunity to attend an information meeting (except in cases involving interim suspension) as described below.

If a student fails to respond to a request to schedule an information meeting and/or attend a scheduled information meeting, or if ten (10) business days have expired since the date of the information meeting notification letter, the student waives their right to an information meeting, and the student conduct officer will select a hearing forum for the student and provide the student with notice of the hearing date.

D. Information Meeting

During the information meeting, the parties will be provided the following:

Clear and complete description of the Student code of Conduct and brief description of the allegations to be considered.
Information related to the student's rights and responsibilities.
An opportunity to understand all information in their student conduct file.
Information regarding the resources available to the student in preparation for their student conduct case.
The right to accept responsibility for all charges and enter into a summary resolution, or the right to dispute the allegation and request an informal or formal hearing (subject to the limitations described below and in Student Conduct Bodies and Forums).
- If the student accepts the charges as presented, assumes responsibility for the violation, and agrees to a summary resolution, the student conduct officer will provide the appropriate sanction(s), in writing, to the student at that time or within ten (10) business days from the summary resolution. Grounds for appeal for students whose case was determined through a summary resolution is limited solely on the basis that the severity of the sanction is disproportionate with the nature of the offense.
- Summary resolution may not be appropriate in all cases, particularly those with a complainant. The Associate Dean will have discretion in whether to permit summary resolution.
- Allegations of Gender-Based Misconduct may only be resolved through a formal hearing or through the Informal Resolution process described in the Gender-Based Misconduct and Title IX Policy.

E. Hearing Notification

Students who request an informal or formal hearing, or where one is required by the student conduct officer, will be afforded reasonable written notice at least five (5) business days prior to the hearing. The student may waive this right and request a hearing sooner, which will be subject to student conduct body availability. Written notice shall include:

A statement of the time, place, and nature of the hearing, including a description of whether the hearing will be conducted at New York Tech with the parties physically present, or remotely.
- If being conducted remotely, the notice will describe the technology/platform being used, which will ensure that the student conduct body and parties are able to simultaneously see and hear a party or witness while they are speaking.
- Parties may request an in-person or remote hearing format, but it is ultimately within the discretion of the student conduct officer.
A statement of the nature of the case and of the forum under which it is to be heard.
A brief statement of the behavior of the student alleged to be in violation of this code that serves as the basis for the violation(s) being considered, including a list of the specific sections of the code that will be adjudicated and the potential sanctions that may result.
Information regarding hearing procedures and logistics, including the presence of other parties and/or witnesses at the hearing (typically reserved for formal hearings).
A statement that if the student fails to appear or provide adequate written notice prior to the scheduled hearing, the hearing may be held in the student's absence.
A statement that no student will be found responsible for a violation of the code solely because the student failed to appear before a student conduct body, and that the decision of the student conduct body will be determined based on all the documentation and testimony presented at the time of the hearing.

Proper notification is deemed given to the student if the college has sent the hearing notification by one of the methods set forth in Delivery of Disciplinary Notifications.

A student may request a hearing to be rescheduled once if proper notice is given, at least two (2) business days prior to the hearing, and for reasonable cause. A student requesting to reschedule after the first time may only do so at the sole discretion of the student conduct officer and under extraordinary circumstances.

F. Scope of Inquiry

A student's previous student conduct record from New York Tech and any other past misconduct presented will only be considered at the discretion of the student conduct officer when deemed related to the present allegation, which will apply when a pattern of misconduct is alleged; however, after a student is found responsible for a violation of the code, any academic or previous disciplinary record may be considered when determining the appropriate educational sanction(s).

G. Disciplinary Consolidations

Whenever possible, cases where more than one student is alleged to be in violation of the Student Code of Conduct and the students' conduct arose out of the same incident(s), each case should be heard by the same student conduct body.
At the discretion of the Dean of Students or designee, in cases where more than one student is alleged to be in violation of the Student code of Conduct and the students' conduct arose out of the same incident(s), a single hearing may be held for all the students charged.
The student conduct officer shall make determinations regarding consolidation with the students, and, if necessary, with the party filing the complaint. The student conduct officer shall make the final decision on all consolidations.
If the same incident(s) result in multiple charges, some of which would constitute violations of the Gender-Based Misconduct and Title IX Policy, and others that would not, the allegations will first be processed together through the Gender-Based Misconduct procedure in Appendix A. The student conduct officer, in consultation with the Title IX Coordinator, will determine whether to consolidate the allegations or hear them separately after the investigation phase.

H. Formal Hearings: Role of the student conduct officer

The role of the student conduct officer when presiding over a formal hearing will be to:

Advise the student of their rights under the Student Code of Conduct.
If an advisor is present, review the advisor's role and limitations during the hearing as outlined below.
Make all administrative decisions on matters relating to the conduct of the hearing, including matters regarding admission of relevant evidence, statements, and questions.
Ensure there are no conflicts of interest between any of the hearing panel members and the student parties. In the case of Gender-Based Misconduct allegations, the Title IX Coordinator will be involved in this assessment.
Ensure that all questioning of witnesses is done in an orderly and respectful fashion. The student conduct officer reserves the right to determine the method for delivery of questions posed by the parties.
Maintain an orderly hearing and permit no person to be subjected to abusive treatment, intimidation, or harassment. The student conduct officer, at their discretion, may remove anyone who refuses to be orderly.
Administer an appropriate oath of truthful testimony to the parties and to all witnesses.

I. Formal Hearings: Role of Advisors

While parties are allowed to have an advisor of their choosing accompany them to a hearing, New York Tech does not provide advisors to parties and cannot guarantee equal advisor rights if one party elects to utilize an attorney as their advisor. Parties are generally not permitted to have more than one advisor; however, exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis. If the option to have an additional advisor is made available to one party, it will be made available to the other.
- Gender-Based Misconduct allegations entitle the parties to an advisor upon receipt of the Notice of Investigation and Allegations in Appendix A.
Advisors may not provide testimony or speak on behalf of their advisee unless given specific permission to do so. The parties are expected to ask and respond to questions on their own behalf throughout the process. Although the advisor generally may not speak on behalf of their advisee, the advisor may consult with their advisee. For longer or more involved discussions, the parties and their advisors should ask for breaks to allow for private consultation, which should not occur excessively.
Advisors should not be witnesses due to the potential conflict, which may impact the weight given to their testimony by the student conduct body.
Advisors are entitled to the same opportunity as their advisee to access relevant evidence, and/or the same written investigation report that accurately summarizes this evidence. Advisors are expected to maintain the confidentiality of the records shared with them and may be required to confirm this in writing.
Any advisor who oversteps their role as defined above, who shares information or evidence in a manner inconsistent with institutional policy, or who refuses to comply with student conduct officer directives, will be warned. If the advisor continues to disrupt or otherwise fails to respect the limits of the advisor role, the meeting/interview may be ended, or other appropriate measures implemented, including New York Tech requiring the party to use a different advisor.

J. Formal Hearings: Role of Witnesses

Witnesses may participate in-person or via video technology that allows the student conduct body and the parties to see and hear the witness while that person is speaking. Witnesses are not permitted to be accompanied by an advisor without express permission of the student conduct officer, which will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances.
The student conduct officer will notify all witnesses of their requested participation in the hearing at least five (5) business days prior to the hearing. Witnesses will be present for the hearing only during their testimony
If any party or witness does not appear at the scheduled hearing, the hearing may be held in their absence. For compelling reasons, the student conduct officer may reschedule the hearing.
In exceptional circumstances only, the student conduct officer may determine that a witness may testify outside the presence of the charged student (or the written statement may be redacted prior to being provided to the charged student), where there are potential repercussions to the witness of being identified to or testifying in the presence of the charged student. In such cases, the student conduct officer must take all reasonable measures to protect the rights of the charged student, including providing the student with a summary of the testimony and the opportunity to provide written questions to the witness. This opportunity is rarely available to a complainant, as their identity is often vital to a charged student's ability to respond to the charge(s). The student conduct officer is responsible for the final decision regarding the disclosure and appearance of complainants and witnesses.
When written statements are relied upon, they should be signed or witnessed by a New York Tech official (a statement sent from an official New York Tech email account may serve as a proxy signature).
Prior to the hearing, the student conduct officer will work with the parties to finalize a witness list. The student conduct officer, only with the agreement of all parties, may decide in advance of the hearing that certain witnesses do not need to be present if their testimony can be adequately summarized by the investigator, and their presence is not essential to assess their credibility.
The student conduct officer reserves the right to determine the relevance of the questions and the method for delivery of questions to the witnesses at the hearing.
In cases involving Gender-Based Misconduct, witnesses scheduled to participate in the hearing must have been first interviewed by the investigator(s) unless:
1. all parties and the student conduct body assent to the new witness's participation in the formal hearing without remanding the complaint back to the investigator, and
2. the student conduct officer deems the evidence presented by the new witness to be relevant, not impermissible, and not information already established in the record.

K. Formal Hearings: Testimony and Questioning

The student conduct officer will facilitate questioning of the parties and witnesses first by the student conduct body and then by the parties. All questions by the parties must be directed toward and asked through the student conduct officer and are subject to a relevance determination before they are asked. The student conduct officer will determine the method by which the parties will submit their questions for their review and posing. Questions that the parties wish to have posed can be questions for that party themselves, another party, or witnesses.
The student conduct officer will limit or disallow questions they deem not appropriate on the basis that they are irrelevant, unduly repetitious (and thus irrelevant), seek or pertain to impermissible evidence, or are abusive. The student conduct officer has final say on all questions and determinations of relevance and appropriateness. The student conduct officer may consult with legal counsel on any questions of admissibility.
In cases of Gender-Based Misconduct, the student conduct officer will explain any decision to exclude a question as not relevant, or to reframe it for relevance.
The student conduct officer will pose the questions deemed relevant, not impermissible, and appropriate to the party and/or witness. Any party or student witness may choose not to offer evidence and/or answer questions at the hearing. Choosing not to provide information does not constitute an admission of responsibility. However, absent a full statement, the student conduct body may lend more weight to written documents and statements of witnesses. The student conduct body may not draw any inference solely from a party's or witness's absence from the hearing or refusal to answer any or all questions. This protection from self-incrimination does not extend to student organizations.

L. Formal Hearings: Evidentiary Considerations

The investigator, where applicable, and the student conduct body will only consider evidence that is deemed relevant and not otherwise impermissible. Relevant evidence is that which may aid in determining whether the allegation occurred, or whether the behavior constitutes a violation of the Code of Conduct.
Impermissible evidence includes evidence protected under a legally privileged relationship or evidence provided to a confidential employee, unless the person to whom the confidentiality is owed has voluntarily waived the privilege. This includes a party's or witness's medical or mental health records and information relating to diagnosis and treatment, unless that party or witness provides voluntary, written consent for use in the process; and
For allegations of Gender-Based Misconduct, impermissible evidence is that related to the complainant's sexual interests or prior sexual conduct, unless evidence about the prior sexual conduct is offered to prove that someone other than the respondent committed the alleged act or is evidence about specific prior incidents between the parties offered to prove consent. Prior consensual sexual conduct between the parties does not by itself demonstrate or imply the complainant's consent or preclude determination that sex-based misconduct occurred.
Where an investigation is warranted, the parties are expected to provide all evidence to the investigator(s) during the investigation. Evidence offered after that time will be evaluated by the student conduct officer for relevance. If deemed relevant and not impermissible, the parties and student conduct officer must agree whether it will be allowed in the hearing or first remanded back to the investigator. The new evidence should not be duplicative of existing evidence in the record, been reasonably available prior to the conclusion of the investigation, or otherwise provided in bad faith. If this criteria is not met, the student conduct officer may consider those factors in determining the weight of the evidence at issue.
The student conduct body will be provided all relevant but not impermissible evidence (including an investigation report where applicable), including the names of all parties, witnesses, and advisors, at least five (5) business days in advance of the hearing. The parties will be provided with electronic copies of all the materials provided to the conduct body as part of the hearing notice, unless those materials have already been provided.

M. Formal Hearings: Pre-Hearing Meetings

In cases of Gender-Based Misconduct and where otherwise deemed necessary by the student conduct officer, each of the parties will be offered pre-hearing meeting(s) with their advisors and the student conduct officer for them to submit the questions or topics they wish to ask or discuss at the formal hearing. This allows the student conduct officer to consider their relevance ahead of time to avoid improper evidentiary introduction in the hearing and avoid delays.

This advance review opportunity does not preclude the parties from submitting a question at the hearing for the first time. The student conduct officer will document and share their rationale for any evidence or question exclusion or inclusion, if any, at a pre-hearing meeting with each party, which will be shared with the other party and advisor before the hearing.

N. Formal Hearings: Hearing Procedures

All formal hearings are private and closed to the public. Formal hearings are recorded by New York Tech only via audio or video recording, and the recording will act as the official record of the hearing. The following procedures are applicable to formal hearings before all student conduct bodies:

Presentation of the incident and the sections of the code alleged to be violated by the student conduct officer.
Brief review and affirmation of student rights and responsibilities by the student conduct officer.
Administration of an appropriate oath of honesty and truthful testimony to the charged student prior to testimony before the hearing body.
Opening statement by the charged student.
Questions directed to the charged student by the hearing body.
Administration of an appropriate oath of honesty and truthful testimony to each witness prior to testimony before the hearing body.
Presentation of witnesses, or witness statements by the investigator (or student conduct officer), followed by questioning of those witnesses by the hearing body (which may include questions posed by the parties, if relevant and appropriate). Witnesses are then dismissed.
Follow-up questions to the charged student.
For Gender-Based Misconduct cases and other cases involving a complainant, Steps 3-7 are repeated for complainant and complainant's witnesses. That is, when a complainant is participating in a formal hearing, they have the same procedural rights as the respondent/charged student to make an opening statement, present evidence/witnesses and submit questions to, and respond to questions from, the hearing body, and provide a closing statement. The student conduct officer will determine which portions of the hearing the complainant is entitled to attend to ensure equal access.
Closing statement by each of the parties, where applicable.
Meeting adjournment. The student conduct officer has the right to make the appropriate revisions to the hearing procedure so long as the student's rights are upheld and maintained.

O. Formal Hearings: Deliberations

Deliberations are closed, except for members of the student conduct hearing body, and are not audio or video recorded.
Responsibility is determined by a majority vote of the student conduct panel members. The vote and final decision of the student conduct hearing panel, including the determination of responsibility and sanctions, if appropriate, are recorded and become the official record of the hearing.
Each party may submit an impact and/or mitigation statement to the hearing panel which will be reviewed and considered only once a determination has been made that the Code of Conduct was violated. The statements may be considered by the panel in determining appropriate sanctions.

P. Findings

In formal hearings, within fifteen (15) business days after the conclusion of deliberations, the student conduct hearing body will provide to the parties the outcome, in writing, which will occur on or about the same date as the other party's notice, and will include:
1. A description of the alleged misconduct.
2. Information about the policies and procedures that New York Tech used to evaluate the allegations.
3. A summary of the relevant and not otherwise impermissible evidence and findings of fact used to support its determination.
4. The determination of, and rationale for, the appropriate sanction(s). In cases of Gender-Based Misconduct, this will include any non-disciplinary remedies as well, in consultation with the Title IX Coordinator.
5. The procedures and permissible bases for appealing.
Informal hearings are determined by the student conduct officer. Students electing informal hearings will be notified in writing within seven (7) business days of the decision, and any applicable sanctions, of the student conduct officer.
A student's enrollment status shall remain unchanged pending New York Tech's final decision in the matter (except in the case of Interim Suspension or Emergency Suspension).