Code of Conduct revisions complete

Tech has rewritten its Student Code of Conduct with information regarding the change being sent to the inboxes of all students, staff and faculty members. The two main issues addressed in the latest version were the previous document's lack of clarity and the amount of time required to process incidents.

"We had gotten feedback from the faculty, students and staff who said they felt the [Code of Conduct] process was a little too long.... The purpose of the new code is also to ensure it is constructed in a manner that is more user friendly to the entire campus community while maintaining educational value," said Ericka McGarity, assistant dean of students and director of student integrity.

The new Code of Conduct became effective Jan. 8 with all incidents occurring after this time falling under the new code.

For those who wish to learn more about the changes, two forums will be held on Jan. 23 and 25 open to anyone who wishes to attend.

Many of the changes have been made in the structure of how the Code of Conduct is written and presented with much of the emphasis being placed on making it an easier read.

"[The revised Code of Conduct] is a much fairer document for the students. Students expressed that they weren't sure of consequences [with the old Code of Conduct].... Now its organization better reflects the way things happen," McGarity said.

Beginning near the top of the document, the definitions for all the terminology are listed for the reader.

The next major sections to follow are those that address misconduct of the academic and non-academic nature. Each charge is broken down into headers that are followed by their explanations.

According to McGarity, several changes to the non-academic misconduct section will be of interest to students.

These include the separation of the charges dealing with alcohol and those dealing with drugs, a sub-category to specifically address sexual harassment and the addition of a section to address computer misuse.

Following the section on the misconduct charges is the section dealing with the procedures for processing a Code of Conduct incident. Before, this section preceded the charges but was moved to make it easier to read.

"There were steps in the process that weren't explained before, but now I can really say [for a student to] take a look at the Code of Conduct," McGarity said.

The current changes to the Code of Conduct began with an initiative from Student Affairs when they received an influx of leadership with a new Dean of Students.

Tech alumnus and founder of the Association of Student Judicial Affairs, Donald Gehring, was asked to conduct an assessment of the previous Code of Conduct in Fall 2005.

After his assessment, the Georgia Tech Code Revisions Committee was formed to rewrite the Code of Conduct.

It was chaired by Ray Vito, associate dean of the college of engineering, and consisted of students, faculty and staff. They held meetings during Spring 2006 and since that time, the Office of Student Integrity and Legal Affairs have been reworking the Code of Conduct.

"Revisions should go through every few years. We have to keep up with trends in high education. These include legal trends and social trends. For example, only a few years ago there was very little illegal downloading compared to today. The [Code of Conduct] should always be a work in progress," McGarity said.

Drafts of the revised Code of Conduct were reviewed by organizations such as the Graduate and Undergraduate SGA and the Student Rules and Regulations Committee. The final document was approved by the Faculty Senate Nov. 28.

As for future efforts to publicize the Code of Conduct changes, McGarity said she wishes to create a brochure to send home to parents and give out during FASET. McGarity says she expects students to understand that these procedures are taken seriously. She also plans to create a booklet with the changes containing flowcharts for a visual aid.

"It will allow the student to understand where they are in the process and what they can expect to happen next," McGarity said.