Under federal law, the College is prohibited from taking any punitive measures against an accused student without a finding of responsibility for a policy violation following a fair process. Every student has the right to fair process (also called “due process,” which applies to state schools) and to be “presumed not responsible”—the Title IX equivalent of “innocent until proven guilty”—during the sexual misconduct process. Because of this, the College is unable to expel, suspend, or remove from campus (or other location) any student, prior to a finding of responsibility by an independent decision maker. This also prevents the College from putting in place accommodations or measures that negatively impact a respondent’s access to institutional programs or facilities.
If you do not wish to proceed with a formal process, you may request accommodations and supportive measures to help you avoid seeing the person – such as changing your course schedule or housing, or no-contact directives. In addition, requests for the respondent to voluntarily submit to certain measures may be made within the alternative resolutions process, but the respondent must agree to those measures voluntarily.
