The Code of Student Conduct is a set of standards to which we hold student members of the campus community. It is based on four core principles:

• Respect for the integrity of the academic process
• Individual integrity
• Respect for the freedoms and privileges of others
• Respect for University resources

Our office engages in a comprehensive Code review every five years with the input and assistance from campus partners, including students. The Code is ultimately approved by the Corporation of Brown University. The next code review will take place during the 2023-2024 academic year.

The point of an investigative review is to gather relevant information related to the alleged violations. This information will be used to determine if there is a basis to file charges against a student and at what level, if any, the matter should be resolved. The investigation report will serve as the main hearing document if the case is referred to a hearing.

There are several possible outcomes of an investigative review. It is possible that after gathering all relevant information, the Director of Student Conduct will decide that there is not a basis to file charges. In that case, we typically take no action or follow up on the incident outside the student conduct process. If the Director of Student Conduct determines that there is a basis to file charges, they will also recommend the level at which the matter should be resolved. This may include an Administrative Review Meeting, an Administrative Hearing, or a Student Conduct Board Hearing.

For Administrative Review Meetings, typically one dean serves as the Case Administrator (sending letters, processing decision forms, assigning administrative reviewers, etc.). Another dean may serve as the administrative reviewer (meeting with the student, making a determination of responsibility, assigning a community status and accompanying terms, etc.). Many of the administrative reviewers are professional staff members from across Campus Life who are not necessarily deans. 

For upper-level hearings, one dean serves as the Case Administrator and may chair the hearing while another dean serves as the Investigator. The Chair does not have a vote in the decision but presides over procedural issues during the hearing and deliberations.

We understand that participating in the disciplinary process can be stressful and that stress can affect your academics as well as other areas of your life. We will help you connect with a dean in Student Support Services who can help you strategize how to manage the impact of this stress and communicate effectively with your instructors about accommodations that you might need.

Our office does not typically communicate with your instructors about your participation in this process unless you request it.

Our office works very closely with Student Support Services, and we can easily help you schedule an appointment with a support dean who can help you manage this process. You can also use Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) to discuss the impact of your participation in this process. Other resources, such as the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life, Student Accessibility Services, and Health Services, are also available to you. Your Case Administrator can assist you in making a connection to any of these resources.

Respondent Rights. Students and student groups are afforded the following rights in Student Conduct proceedings:

1. To be informed in writing of the charge(s) and alleged prohibited behavior.
2. To not be presumed responsible of any alleged violations unless so found through the appropriate student conduct proceeding.
3. To have an advisor during a formal Investigative Review, a hearing before the Student Conduct Board, an Administrative Hearing, or a Restorative Board.
4. To request reasonable accommodations through Student Accessibility Services to participate in these proceedings.
5. To have a reasonable length of time to prepare a response to any charges.
6. To be informed of the evidence upon which a charge is based and afforded an opportunity to offer a relevant response.
7. To be given an opportunity to articulate relevant concerns and issues, express opinions, and offer evidence before the Administrative Reviewer or Hearing Officer(s). (Students have the right to prepare a written statement in matters that may result in separation from the University.)
8. To be afforded privacy, in accordance with University practices and legal requirements.
9. To request that an Administrative Reviewer, Hearing Officer, Restorative Board member, or member of a Student Conduct Board be disqualified on the grounds of personal bias.
10. To appeal a decision based on certain grounds.
11. To refrain from providing information that is self-incriminating.

Complainant Rights. Students serving as complainants in University proceedings are afforded the following rights:

1. To be informed in writing of the charge(s) and alleged misconduct for Student Conduct Board Hearings, Administrative Hearings, or Restorative Boards.
2. To have an advisor during a formal Investigative Review, a hearing before the Student Conduct Board, an Administrative Hearing, or a Restorative Board.
3. To request reasonable accommodations through Student Accessibility Services to participate in these proceedings.
4. To have a reasonable length of time to prepare for a proceeding.
5. To be given an opportunity to articulate relevant concerns and issues, express opinions, and offer evidence before the Administrative Reviewer or Hearing Officer(s).
6. To be afforded privacy, in accordance with University practices and legal requirements.
7. To request that an Administrative Reviewer, Hearing Officer, Restorative Board member, or member of a Student Conduct Board be disqualified on the grounds of personal bias.
8. To appeal a decision in cases of D.9 Harassment or D.10 Harm to Person(s).

The investigator’s role is to gather as much relevant information as possible and write a comprehensive report to be reviewed by the Director of Student Conduct. You will meet with the investigator in an office or conference room on campus or in a virtual (Zoom) room. The investigator will ask you questions about your participation in or knowledge about the incident(s) under review and may solicit any documents or supporting evidence you may have. This could include text messages, bank statements, Facebook postings, or other relevant documents. The investigator will be particularly interested in your observations of fact - what happened, when it happened, who was involved, etc. The investigator may also ask questions about any background information that is relevant to the investigative review. Under most circumstances, anything you share with the investigator could potentially be shared with the complainant and possibly other witnesses for comment.

The decision to retain an attorney  is a personal one that should be decided by a student and their family. The University does not provide attorneys to students. Attorneys will only be allowed in the hearing room for cases in which the allegations could constitute a capital/life offense under Rhode Island law. If you are accompanied by an attorney, know that the attorney will not be allowed to participate in the hearing or speak on your behalf. Our office will not interact directly with your attorney and will advise all communication from your attorney to go through the Office of General Counsel.

Attorney Peter J. Cerilli provides legal advice to Brown undergraduate, graduate, and medical students. He currently advises students by telephone (on select days and times). Please refer to this website for the current schedule of his available dates and times for consultation.

If your case is referred to an Administrative Review Meeting, you can expect a one-on-one meeting with a dean or other administrator. During this meeting, you will be asked to provide your account of the incident and any supporting evidence to the reviewer. Reviewers will likely engage you in a discussion about decision-making, responsible behavior, community values and other topics related to your growth and development. Your reviewer will determine if you are responsible for a Code violation and will decide on all community status outcomes and accompanying terms.

If your case is referred to an upper-level hearing (Student Conduct Board Hearing or Administrative Hearing), you can expect a more formal meeting in a conference room or virtual (Zoom) conference room with scripted procedures. Your case administrator will be present for (and may chair) the hearing, along with a panel or an individual administrative hearing officer, and the complainant or a University representative presenting the allegations. The investigator will appear at the hearing to answer questions, and other witnesses may be called. You will be allowed to give an opening statement and a closing statement, answer questions from the hearing body, and provide your narrative of events. You may be accompanied by your advisor during the hearing.

Learn more by visiting Hearings & Procedures or Conduct Process & Procedures. 

If the Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards is notified about a potential Code violation that occurs off campus, we will typically address it. The Code of Student Conduct applies to all students, no matter where they are. The University expects students to represent the values of Brown University whether they are on or off campus.

Information about your hearing/meeting and its result is only shared with other University personnel who need to know. This may include representatives from Residential Life, the Dean of Students, or other parties that may be involved in or impacted by the outcome. We do not share any information with other students (except complainants under certain circumstances).

You do not have to appear at the hearing/review meeting. If you do not appear, a decision about your responsibility and an appropriate community status/terms will be determined in your absence. The hearing officer/administrative reviewer will make this decision based on the evidence available to them. 

If you appear at the hearing/review meeting, you have the right to refrain from providing information that is self-incriminating. However, hearing officers/administrative reviewers are allowed to consider this in their decision-making process.

For Administrative Review Meetings, you may make an appointment with OSCCS to review redacted evidence before your review meeting. You may take handwritten notes but will not be allowed to photograph or photocopy the documents. Please email student-conduct@brown.edu to schedule an appointment to review your review meeting documents.

For Administrative and Student Conduct Board Hearings, you will have access to all evidence that will be considered during the hearing. You will gain access to this during the investigative review and will have the chance to respond to both the investigator and to the hearing body. 

You may not bring anyone with you to an Administrative Review Meeting. If you are being assisted by an advisor or supported by a friend, they must wait outside the meeting room. If you are a complainant or respondent in an higher-level hearing, you may be assisted by your advisor during the hearing. Any additional support people must wait outside the hearing room.

If you are found responsible for a Code violation, you may be assigned a community status outcome that will fall along a range of increasing severity from a Probation to Expulsion, depending on the nature of the incident and your conduct history. It is also possible for no community status to be assigned.

• Probation is a period of time during which you are expected to demonstrate better commitment to the Code of Student Conduct, as any incidents that occur during that time will be scrutinized more heavily and sanctioned more seriously.
• Suspension is a designated time a student must spend away from campus focusing on growth and development before being allowed to rejoin the campus community.
• Expulsion is a permanent separation from the University.

All community status outcomes aside from Expulsion are typically accompanied by educational or restorative assignments called terms. If terms are not met by the deadlines assigned by the hearing officer/administrative reviewer, you may be charged with failure to comply with a proper directive and subjected to another disciplinary process.

Terms are educational, restrictive, and/or restorative assignments that are received as a result of being found responsible for a Code violation. These may include writing a reflection paper, issuing a letter of apology, paying restitution for damage to property, or other assignments designed to make students reflect more deeply about their behavior and choices.

Additionally, in cases where there is a community status assigned, the Administrative Reviewer or Hearing Officer(s) may impose university restrictions. Examples of university restrictions include, but are not limited to, removal from or reassignment of housing, denial of off-campus permission, restriction from representing the University for a period of time, restriction from student leadership positions, and/or limitation of access to University sanctioned events.

Within five (5) days of notification of the hearing/review meeting outcome, the respondent(s) may appeal in writing the decisions in the case, setting out the reason(s) for the appeal.  Appeals will be submitted to the Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services or their designee.  Appeals will normally be considered only when:

(1) there is relevant new evidence that was not reasonably available to be presented to the original hearing authority and that in the judgment of the appeal officer the introduction of the information may have changed the finding by the original hearing authority; or

(2) when a substantial procedural error by the University or hearing body/officer is demonstrated and in the reasonable judgment of the appeal officer such error is sufficient enough that it may have affected the decision of the original hearing authority.  

If the appeal officer determines that the appeal has merit, they may reduce the severity or terms of an outcome or may remand the matter to an appropriate hearing officer or body.

After the period of suspension is up, you may petition the Dean of Students for re-enrollment by completing this form. 

It is possible that the alleged Code of Student Conduct violation is also a potential criminal or civil offense. Therefore, it is possible that you may go through two different resolution systems. The resolution to the alleged Code violation will not take the result of any legal proceedings into account. The two processes are completely independent of each other.

A sanction of Suspension or Expulsion will result in a permanent transcript notation. 

If you are found responsible for a Code violation, our office will report it if asked. Internal to Brown University, we will share any violations and their resulting outcomes. For external constituents, we only report incidents that resulted in a community status outcome of Probation or above. We will not report any charges for which you were found not responsible, any warning letters, or any No Contact Orders.

Health professions schools, law schools, and state bar associations require information about institutional action related to a student's academic record and the Academic Code in addition to violations of the Code of Student Conduct. If you are found responsible for a Code violation and are considering an application to a health professions school, please email hco@brown.edu with any questions. If you are considering an application to a law school or state bar association, please email prelaw@brown.edu.

No. Conduct records are maintained as active files for a period of seven years post-graduation. Records for any violations resulting in a community status that is visible on a student’s academic transcript will be kept indefinitely.

We have an online submission form, and this page will tell you what your complaint should include.

Your complaint should include your written narrative of the incident(s) as you observed or experienced it. You can also attach other documents, including screenshots of text messages, photographs, audio recordings, or any other information that can be digitized. Any evidence that supports your narrative would be prudent to provide. Please note that most complaints do not come with supporting “evidence,” so it is okay if you do not have any documents to provide.

After you file a complaint, it gets reviewed by the staff in the Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards to determine the best course of action. This may result in a preliminary review, which may include asking you for additional information, contacting potential witnesses, and gathering other important information before deciding how to proceed. If the allegations you make in the complaint could, if substantiated, result in a student’s temporary or permanent separation from Brown, a full investigative review will be conducted. If the allegations are not serious enough to warrant separation, even if substantiated, the case will likely be referred to an Administrative Review Meeting. In either event, you will be contacted by the Case Administrator, the Investigator, or the hearing officer to solicit your participation if the details of the case warrant it. If the allegations you make in your complaint do not constitute a violation of the Code of Student Conduct, the case may result in non-disciplinary follow up (mediation, Dean’s Conference, warning letter, etc.).

You may be assisted by an advisor during a formal investigative review, a hearing before the Student Conduct Board, or an Administrative Hearing. The advisor may be any person of your choice within the University community who is a full time faculty or staff member and is not an attorney. 

You will meet with the investigator in an office or conference room on campus or in a virtual (Zoom) room. The investigator will ask you questions related to the allegations and your experience of the incident(s) under review. The investigator will be particularly interested in your observations of fact - what happened, when it happened, who was involved, etc. - but will also ask questions about how the incident impacted you. The investigator may also ask questions about any background information that is relevant to the investigative review. Under most circumstances, anything you share with the investigator could potentially be shared with the respondent and possibly other witnesses for comment.

Higher-Level Hearings: You are not required to appear at the hearing. If you do not wish to participate as the Complainant, you may choose to participate only as a witness and have a more limited role during the hearing.

Administrative Review Meetings: You are not permitted to attend the Respondent’s meeting but may have the opportunity to meet separately with the administrative reviewer to discuss your complaint.

While your participation helps in the generation of a thorough investigation report, we do not require students to participate as a witness. We do, however, encourage you to think carefully about how not participating may ultimately impact the broader campus community.

We ask that you not discuss the case with anyone while it is ongoing, unless it is for advice or support. You should not be consulting with the complainant, respondent, or other witnesses about the content of your testimony or the information you have shared or plan to share with the investigator. After the case is over, we ask that you think carefully about how and with whom you discuss any details of the case. These are often sensitive matters, and maintaining confidentiality helps all parties, including future potential complainants and respondents, be able to trust that the details of their participation in this process will not be broadcast to the campus community.

You will meet one-on-one with the investigator in an office or conference room on campus or in a virtual (Zoom) room. The investigator will ask you questions related to the allegations and what you know about the incident(s) under review. The investigator will be particularly interested in your observations if you were present for and directly observed the incident(s) or if you have information that helps establish a coherent timeline of events. The investigator may also ask questions about what you were told about the incident(s) and any background information that is relevant to the investigation. Under most circumstances, anything you share with the investigator could potentially be shared with the parties for comment.

The Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards received allegations that your student violated the Code of Student Conduct. The allegations, if substantiated, could warrant your student’s separation from Brown University. The investigative review is designed to gather all relevant information so the Dean of Students (or their designee) can determine the best course of action to resolve the matter.

The most important role you can play in this process is as a support person for your student. Unless you were a material witness to the incident(s) under review, you will not be asked to participate in the process. You may, however, attend any hearing with your student for support and wait in a waiting area during the proceedings.

Our process is analogous to a criminal process only in that it affords respondents due process. Otherwise, our process is designed to be as educational as possible and is completely separate from any legal proceedings that may take place off campus. A student who is found responsible through our conduct process may be placed on a community status (probation, etc.) with the University and will likely be assigned one or more educational accompanying terms. The outcome of any hearing will be part of your student’s educational record, but it will not become part of any criminal record unless they are found guilty in a court proceeding. A court proceeding and the University conduct process may happen around the same time, but the two processes are completely separate from each other.

Your choice to hire or consult with an attorney is a personal one. It is important for you to know that we do not allow attorneys to participate in our processes unless the allegations constitute a capital/life offense in the state of Rhode Island. Your student may be advised and assisted by an attorney, but the attorney will not be allowed to be in the hearing/meeting room or in any meetings with our staff. All attorney inquiries will be directed to the Brown University Office of General Counsel.

Your student can expect to receive a lot of information from our office - verbally, physically, and/or electronically. They can expect to be assumed to be not responsible for violating the Code of Student Conduct unless a hearing body determines otherwise. We try to be as transparent as possible in our processes and flexible as much as we are able without unduly prolonging the timeline. We are always available to answer any questions they have and to take their feedback about the process seriously. For cases that go to investigative reviews, members of our office all serve in different impartial roles, so your student should expect to feel respected and supported throughout. After the hearing or review meeting, no matter the outcome, our staff remains committed to your student’s development and well-being and remains available to answer questions, provide information, and connect your student to needed resources. If your student is separated from Brown following a hearing, they should expect our staff to be involved in supporting them when they return to campus.

Your student can share any documents with you that they choose. The Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards will not share any documents directly with you.

Your student may share as much information with you as they wish. Our office will typically only share information with you if your student has signed a release for us to do so. Your student can access the request form here.

You can assist your student by providing emotional and logistical support throughout the investigation process. This may include helping them prepare for the possibility of being separated from Brown for a period of time (housing arrangements, requirements for enrolling at another institution, financial considerations, etc.). You should encourage your student to ask questions if they are unsure of something about the process and to seek support resources that are available to them on campus (Student Support Services, Counseling and Psychological Services, Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life, Health Services, Student Accessibility Services, etc.). Their Case Administrator can help connect them to these resources.

Your student’s conduct record may greatly impact their future and success, depending on the details of the case(s). Our office shares information with outside entities (certain employers, other schools, government agencies) when asked, so it is possible that others will have access to this information even if nothing appears on the transcript. If the infraction was small and was not a pattern of recurring behavior, it may not impact your student in a meaningful way. For violations that ended in serious outcomes, however, your student may be denied admission to other institutions or be considered ineligible for certain government positions. It is important to discuss this with your student so they can prepare for this potential impact.

All students who are currently in good disciplinary standing are eligible to be part of the Student Conduct Board. 

Training to be a member of the Student Conduct Board takes approximately three hours. If you are chosen to serve on a panel, you will spend time reading the case materials before the hearing, time during the hearing asking questions, and time after the hearing deliberating about the finding(s) and outcomes with the other panelists. On average, each case demands about five hours of your time. Most students do not serve on more than one panel per year due to our volume.

Undergraduate students are selected annually by the Undergraduate Council of Students (UCS). Graduate students are selected annually by the Graduate Student Council. Medical students are selected annually by the Medical Student Senate.

You will be asked to attend a formal training session that lasts approximately three hours. Topics to be covered include an overview of the Code of Student Conduct, the investigative review process, how to weigh evidence, how to develop good questions, what to consider when assigning sanctions and accompanying terms, preparing for a hearing, and case studies.

All first-years, sophomores, and juniors are encouraged to apply. If you have any questions about the application and/or the process, please email student-ambassadors@brown.edu.

Student Ambassadors meet weekly for an hour to discuss issues and concerns regarding community standards at Brown. In addition, Ambassadors may work independently and in teams to create and work on projects that enhance a safe and ethically responsible learning community. A weekly meeting may be canceled during weeks where members are actively working on projects. Students may also meet in one-on-one settings with student conduct professional staff to develop individual professional goals.

Student Ambassadors receive comprehensive training regarding the student conduct hearing procedures, their roles as peer guides for students, connecting students with campus resources, and leadership development.