The ASCIT Board of Directors are proposing the following amendment to the ASCIT Bylaws:
Legislative History
Lead-Author - Winter Pearson - Incumbent CRC Student Co-Chair
Co-Authors - Jonathan Booker - Incumbent ASCIT Secretary, Kavya Rajagopalan- Incumbent ASCIT President, & David Melliso Incumbent BoC Chair
Passed by the BoD on February 3, 2023
Explanation
This Amendment will replace the entire text of Article XIV--Conduct Review Committee with a new Article describing the functioning of the CRC. This update includes what the CRC is, the complete details of the CRC process, respondent rights and responsibilities, and other fundamental information not currently present in the Bylaws. It brings the Bylaws in line with current CRC proceedings but does not intend to change those proceedings. This amendment was written based on existing CRC and Honor Code documents.
If you have any questions about these bylaws, please contact winter@caltech.edu, jbooker@caltech.edu, krajagop@caltech.edu, dmelliso@caltech.edu
Existing Text of ARTICLE XIV -- CONDUCT REVIEW COMMITTEE
SECTION 1. The position of Conduct Review Committee Student Chairman is not a Corporation office and shall be open to any undergraduate. Procedures for electing the Conduct Review Committee Student Chairman will follow those as outlined in Article VII.
SECTION 2. MEMBERSHIP. The student representatives on the Conduct Review Committee shall consist of the Conduct Review Committee Student Chair, one representative from each of the undergraduate houses, elected by the members of that House, and one member elected by students living outside of the Houses.
(a) The representatives from the Houses shall be elected each year in accordance with the election procedures determined by the House. A candidate may declare their candidacy in any House, but all students shall vote in the House with which they are affiliated at the time of the election. Students not affiliated with any House may register to vote in the House of their choice. Students not registered nor affiliated with a House at the time of the election may not vote.
(b) Students affiliated with more than one House may only vote in one House.
(c) Students living outside the houses and associated off-campus alleys shall be eligible to elect one representative in an annual election organized according to procedures determined by the electors. Eligible students who choose to vote in the election for off-campus Conduct Review Committee Representative may not vote for Conduct Review Committee Representatives in one of the houses.
(d) In the event that a Conduct Review Committee representative from the Houses retires before their term of office expires, the House shall elect a replacement for the remainder of the term of office in accordance with the election procedures determined by the House.
Amendment
ARTICLE XIV--CONDUCT REVIEW COMMITTEE
SECTION 1. Purpose and Duties. The Conduct Review Committee (CRC) shall investigate allegations of non-academic violations of the Honor Code or policy by undergraduates, including by individuals, student groups or organizations, and Houses. It will provide findings of fact and recommendations for responsibility and sanctions to the Dean of Undergraduate Students (“Dean”).
SECTION 2. Membership, Elections, and Duties.
(a) Membership: The CRC shall consist of:
(i) The CRC Student Co-Chair and CRC Faculty Co-Chair (“Co-Chairs”). The position of CRC Student Co-Chair is not a Corporation office and shall be open to any undergraduate. Procedures for electing the CRC Student Co-Chair will follow those as outlined in Article VII. The position of CRC Faculty Co-Chair shall be the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students.
(ii) The Student Representatives. The student representatives on the CRC shall consist of the CRC Student Co-Chair, one representative from each of the undergraduate houses, and one unaffiliated representative. They all serve a term of one year. Only registered undergraduates may be elected as student representatives.
1) House Representative Elections: Only registered undergraduates may vote and they may vote in only one House election of a House with which they are affiliated at the time of the election. Houses must run representative elections before the beginning of third term.
2) Unaffiliated Representative Elections: The election for the unaffiliated representative shall be run by the Review Committee before the beginning of third term as specified in Article VII. Only registered undergraduates who did not vote in a House election, including those who live in a House, may vote for the unaffiliated representative. The unaffiliated representative may be a registered undergraduate with membership in a House.
(iii) The Faculty and Staff Representatives: Sufficient CRC representatives shall be chosen by the Co-Chairs and Dean from members of faculty and staff. Registered undergraduates will be given the opportunity to nominate members of faculty for consideration.
(b) Replacement: If a CRC representative fails to register or takes a leave of absence at any time during their tenure, they shall be replaced immediately in the same manner as they were selected. The replacement shall serve only for the remainder of the one-year term.
(c) General Duties: The CRC Co-Chairs lead, organize, and review the activities of the CRC. They act together and perform all CRC duties together, including attending the same CRC meetings, sharing all pertinent information with each other, and making decisions together. The Co-Chairs assist with full hearings, but do not vote. They perform preliminary investigations and keep the official record. Representatives serve and vote on full hearings.
(d) Training: Each year, all CRC representatives must attend a training conducted by the Co-Chairs before conducting a preliminary investigation or serving on a case panel. Any member of the Caltech community may attend with the Co-Chairs’ approval.
SECTION 3. Rights and Responsibilities
(a)Reporting: All members of the Caltech community are expected to report suspected violations of the Honor Code by undergraduates to the CRC or the Dean. The person (or people) against whom the allegation is made is the respondent.
(b) Presumption of Non-Responsibility: The respondent will be presumed not to be responsible for charges until the CRC process finds them to be so.
(c) Cooperation:
(i) The respondent may elect not to speak on their own behalf, including not to attend interviews or hearings. A respondent may also attend without speaking. The respondent should communicate such intentions to the Co-Chairs in advance. The respondent will not be presumed responsible based on such a choice, however actions and decisions may continue without their input.
(ii) If a respondent chooses to speak, they must be honest. Being dishonest during CRC proceedings may be considered a violation of the Honor Code.
(d) Confidentiality: CRC Co-Chairs and representatives, CRC advisors, designees, respondents, and witnesses participating in a case (“participants”) shall not reveal to anyone within or outside the Caltech community any of the information concerning the case, including the identities of the respondent and witnesses, the allegation, evidence, CRC meetings, and/or discussions of the case. Failure to maintain confidentiality shall be considered a potential violation of the Honor Code. The exceptions to confidentiality are that:
(i) The respondent may discuss their case with persons who can provide evidence in their defense; suggest witnesses for the CRC to interview; seek support services from family not affiliated with Caltech, campus resources, and their CRC advisor; and seek professional services from therapists, attorneys, and clergy. If there are multiple respondents, they may discuss their case with each other. Campus resources include RAs, RLCs, the Dean, Student Wellness Services, and the Center for Diversity. CRC Co-Chairs and representatives may seek support services from campus resources.
(ii) Faculty, staff, the Dean, CRC Co-Chairs, and CRC representatives may offer support to the respondent but, unless otherwise specified, are not confidential resources. They may report to the CRC admissions of wrongdoing that the respondent makes to them. The respondent makes such admissions to them at their own risk.
(iii) The CRC and Dean may share details of the case as needed with each other and with participants in the process, appropriate faculty, staff, and administrators to carry out the CRC process and recommendations. The CRC may put aside normal confidentiality conventions under consultation with the Dean, as necessary.
(iv) Participants may share any information with the Dean or CRC.
(v) After the case, the respondent may discuss their case—or their portion of a case that has multiple respondents—with others. Once the respondent initiates such discussion, witnesses in that case may also discuss the case with others.
(vi) Records will be kept strictly confidential, except where legally required to be released or needed by the Co-Chairs or Dean in the course of performing their duties for the CRC, consistent with Caltech’s Access to Student Records policy.
(e) CRC Advisor: The respondent may choose a member of the Caltech community who is not otherwise participating in the case to serve as their CRC advisor. The CRC advisor must be approved by the Co-Chairs. For any meeting with the CRC, the respondent may be accompanied by their CRC advisor, and may have a short, private recess during those meetings with their CRC advisor. However, the CRC advisor may not otherwise participate in the process nor directly speak on the respondent’s behalf.
(f) Replacement: If any participant believes that particular CRC members are unable to render an unbiased judgment, including themselves, they may request that member be replaced in the case. A case will not proceed until such requests are addressed. If the respondent is a member of the CRC, they must be replaced in the case.
(i) Co-Chair Replacement: The request is made to the Dean. If approved, the Dean will appoint a Co-Chair designee, as described in Section 8, for the rest of the case.
(ii) Representative Replacement: The request is made to the Co-Chairs. If approved, the new representative will be added in accordance with Section 5.
(g) Access to Information:
(i) For each case, all information which will be used in the CRC process, excepting that which would violate confidentiality to provide, will be provided to the respondent at their request. They will have the opportunity to respond to all such information in writing.
(ii) A participant may make a reasonable request to have any relevant information included in the record.
(iii) All participants will be given written notice of the time, date, and location of all interviews and hearings in which they will be participating by the Co-Chairs. A date and time that will be selected such that all such participants have sufficient time to prepare and can attend.
(iv) All participants have the right to request clarification concerning the CRC process from the Co-Chairs.
(h) Accommodations: All participants will be provided the reasonable accommodations due to disability that they require to participate in the CRC process.
(i) Other: The respondent and participants have all other rights and responsibilities described in the Honor Code Handbook’s section “Rights and Responsibilities” and the rest of this Article.
SECTION 4. Preliminary Investigation
(a) Preliminary Notice: The Co-Chairs will notify the respondent in writing of the charges, accusations, and all other evidence and information relevant to the case which is available at the time. This will be done with reasonable notice ahead of any interviews or hearings with participants.
(b) Information Collection: When a case is first referred to the CRC, the Co-Chairs will perform a fair and thorough preliminary investigation to collect all necessary information concerning the case. This will include interviews conducted by the Co-Chairs with those with knowledge of the case. Besides the provisions in Section 3, interviewees may be required by the Co-Chairs to discuss such knowledge. An interview must be conducted with the respondent.
(i) The respondent has the right and responsibility to ensure the entire case is presented, including by requesting interviews be conducted with people and by providing potential questions for witnesses.
(c) Preliminary Decision: Once the preliminary investigation has been performed, the Co-Chairs will make a preliminary decision about whether they believe:
(i) No violation occurred or there is insufficient evidence to proceed: The Co-Chairs will refer the case to the Dean for dismissal.
(ii) A violation has occurred, the facts which determine that are undisputed by all participants, and the sanction is clear: The Co-Chairs will assemble a CRC report to recommend that determination of responsibility and sanction to the Dean.
(iii) Otherwise: The Co-Chairs will refer the case to a full hearing.
(d) Records: The Co-Chairs will keep a record of all information collected, including summaries of interviews conducted with witnesses.
SECTION 5. Full Hearing
(a) Notice of Hearing: If the case is proceeding to a full hearing, the respondent will be provided notice in writing of the alleged policy or honor code violation, the factual bases of the allegations against them, the basis for the decision to proceed to the full hearing, the records of the preliminary investigation, and all other evidence which will be provided to the CRC committee for the full hearing (“preliminary investigation statement”).
(i) The respondent will be provided the reasonable opportunity to provide a written response to this notice, before the full hearing. The respondent has the right and responsibility to ensure the entire case is presented, including by requesting interviews be conducted with people and by providing potential questions for witnesses.
(b) CRC Committee Membership: A CRC Committee consists of the Co-Chairs and three voting members, which are selected by the Co-Chairs from the pool of CRC representatives. One of these must be an undergraduate student, one must be a member of faculty, and one must be a staff member. When possible, members will be selected on a rotating basis. If needed to convene such a Committee, the Co-Chairs may appoint former voting members. A new group of members will be convened for each case.
(i) Replacement: If a voting member must be replaced as per Section 3, this will also be done in accordance with the process above. If a case is tabled, voting members may be replaced if the original Committee is unavailable.
(c) Full Hearing Evidence:
(i) Those appearing before the CRC will be reminded that they are expected to tell the truth.
(ii) The respondent will be provided an opportunity during the course of the full hearing, during which they may present any new witnesses and additional evidence they wish. The respondent may provide their testimony in person and/or in writing. If new witness testimony or evidence is collected during the full hearing, the respondent will be given a reasonable opportunity to respond to it in person or in writing, before the CRC has finalized its recommendations to the Dean.
(d) CRC Committee: In order to make their recommendations, the Committee will convene. They will review the preliminary investigation statement and all other relevant information, including any presented by the respondent during the full hearing. They may interview relevant witnesses and the respondent at their discretion, when possible. Records from the Board of Control, the Dean of Students, and other relevant bodies may be included in this information, and may have an impact on the outcome. They will then vote on their recommendations, as per Section 6.
(e) Attendance: Attendance at the full hearing is limited to the CRC Committee. Witnesses and the respondent may attend only their own meetings with the Committee. The respondent may bring their CRC advisor. No other attendees at the full hearing are permitted.
(f) Records: The Co-Chairs will keep a record of all proceedings, including preliminary investigations, summaries of interviews conducted with witnesses and the respondent, and any additional relevant information. These must include the names of all participants, the names of the Committee, the evidence used in making decisions, and all decisions reached by the CRC, including vote tallies.
SECTION 6. CRC Recommendations and Report to Dean
(a) The CRC will seek to make recommendations in the best interest of the entire Caltech community.
(b) Recommendations: The Committee votes on these recommendations to the Dean:
(i) Determination of Responsibility: Whether an Honor Code and/or policy violation was committed by the respondent, and its scope.
(ii) Sanctions: If the Committee determines that a violation occurred, how to protect the Caltech community from future violations.
(c) Voting:
(i) Preponderance: The Committee will make their recommendations based on the preponderance of the evidence. For example, during the determination of responsibility vote, in order to recommend that the respondent committed a violation, the Committee must find that the relevant evidence shows a likelihood of 50% plus at least the weight of a feather (i.e., it is more likely than not) that such a violation occurred.
(ii) Votes Required: A unanimous vote of the voting members of the Committee shall be necessary for any decision of the CRC, such as these recommendations.
(iii) Deadlocks: If a vote does not meet the voting threshold, it may be repeated as necessary. However, in the event that the CRC deadlocks on one or more of its recommendations, the Committee may forward the details of its investigation to the Dean instead of coming to a decision, potentially including an incomplete CRC Report.
(iv) Abstentions: Abstentions are not allowed on the vote for determination of responsibility. A Committee member who is unable to make a decision on the determination of responsibility may not abstain but must vote that a violation has not occurred.
(d) Dismissals: If the Committee reaches a “no” vote on the determination of responsibility, it shall recommend dismissal to the Dean. In this case, a sanctions recommendation will not be made. Where dismissal is recommended, after either the preliminary investigation or the full hearing, the CRC and Dean may agree on further action or finalize the dismissal.
(e) Co-Chairs’ Report: After the Committee has voted on its recommendations, the case is closed. The Co-Chairs will assemble a report containing the recommendations of the Committee and a summary of the facts and evidence used in making those recommendations (“CRC Report”).
(f) Notice of Report: The Co-Chairs will provide their report to the respondent and the Dean.
SECTION 7. Final Determination
(a) Respondent’s Response to Report: After a case is closed and before the final determination, the respondent will be provided with a reasonable opportunity to review and respond to the report.
(b) Dean’s Response to Report: The Dean will review the report and the respondent’s response to it. The Dean may request that the Co-Chairs or Committee conduct follow-up work, gather new evidence, or reopen the case. In this event, the respondent will be given an opportunity to respond to any new evidence gathered.
(i) If the full hearing was incomplete or the case was otherwise closed without a full hearing, the respondent may require that a case be reopened in this manner, in order for a complete full hearing to be held.
(c) Dean’s Meeting: The Dean will meet with the respondent prior to making the final determination. This will include ensuring that the respondent was treated fairly during the proceedings.
(d) Final Determination: After reviewing the report and the respondent’s response to it, the Dean will make a final determination of whether to adopt, reject, or modify the Committee’s recommendations for determination of responsibility and sanctions (this is the “Final Determination”). The final determination will be included in the CRC report for the case.
(e) Notice of Final Determination: The Dean will inform the respondent, Co-Chairs, and any other individuals who are directly affected by the final determination of it in writing. The notice will include any sanctions that may be imposed, and information regarding the respondent’s ability to appeal the Dean’s determination and the process for doing so.
(f) Appeals: Within seven days of the Dean’s written notice of final determination, the respondent may submit an appeal, in writing, to the Vice President for Student Affairs (VPSA), in which case the Dean’s decision will not go into effect until the appeal is resolved. After considering an appeal, the VPSA may choose to adopt, reject, or modify the final determination. The VPSA may also instruct the CRC to conduct follow-up work, gather new evidence, or reopen the case. The VPSA will render their decision in writing to the respondent, Dean, Co-Chairs, and any other individuals who are directly affected by the final determination.
SECTION 8. Designees
(a) Co-Chair Designees: On any case, a CRC Co-Chair may designate someone else (a “Co-Chair designee”) to perform some or all of the duties allocated to the Co-Chairs (Sections 3 through 7) for that case, in place of that Co-Chair. At any time, each case will be a total of two Co-Chairs and Co-Chair designees working on it. A Co-Chair designee cannot simultaneously be another type of participant in the case. A Co-Chair designee designated by a Student Co-Chair must be a current CRC student representative (as described in Section 2).
(b) Responsibilities: Designees have the same CRC requirements and restrictions as the role they have been designated for, including confidentiality as per Section 3.