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FAQs: SUSPENSION and EMERGENCY SUSPENSION

Does the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities provide for suspension as a sanction outcome of the Resolution Process?

The Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities states:

“Sanctions are designed to promote the University's educational mission. Sanctions may also serve to promote safety or to deter students from behavior which harms or threatens people or property or is motivated by bias because of membership in a group listed in II¶2.

Some behavior is so harmful to the University community or so deleterious to the educational process that it may require more serious sanctions: removal from housing, removal from specific courses or activities, suspension from the University, or expulsion.

No sanction will automatically impose other sanctions following future offenses.”

Does the Statement define “suspension”?

According to the Statement:

“Suspension: Separation from the University for a specified period of time or until certain conditions are met.”

What student conduct could lead to suspension as a sanction outcome of the Resolution Process?

Determining the appropriate response to behavior in a given case requires review of the facts and circumstances surrounding the case. 

Examples of past cases where the behavior was determined to be so harmful to the University community or educational process that suspension was required:
 

  • Physical assault
  • Sexual assault
  • Combined behavior of stalking with significant repeated sexual harassment and vandalism
  • Hazing, resulting in physical harm
  • Possession of large quantities of drugs, indicating distribution and/or selling
  • Significant and repeated substance abuse, indicating that continued presence on campus will present a threat of harm to self or others
  • Fire safety issues, including setting fires in a residence hall and harassing public safety officials

Precedent informs but is not binding in determining sanctions in a case.

What is emergency suspension?

According to the Statement:

“If a student's actions pose an immediate danger to any member of the University community, the VPSA or a designee may immediately suspend the student pending a meeting.”

How is immediate danger assessed?
What are best practice recommendations for assessing immediate danger?

For information about threat assessment and threat levels see the following resources:

  • School violence and threat assessment

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfdpvzp9_40k33knb


  • School violence: threat assessment, part II

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfdpvzp9_10ffd365

Excerpt from ASJA LAW AND POLICY REPORT, Thursday April 26, 2007, No. 252,  School Violence: Threat Assessment citing "The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective" (National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2000) ("FBI"):

Low Level of Threat: A threat that poses a minimal risk to the victim and public safety.

  • Threat is vague and indirect.
  • Information contained within the threat is inconsistent, implausible or lacks detail.
  • Threat lacks realism.
  • Content of the threat suggests person is unlikely to carry it out.

Medium Level of Threat: A threat that could be carried out, although it may not appear entirely realistic.

  • Threat is more direct and more concrete than a low level threat.
  • Wording in the threat suggests that the threatener has given some thought to how the act will be carried out.
  • There may be a general indication of a possible place and time (though these signs still fall well short of a detailed plan).
  • There is no strong indication that the threatener has taken preparatory steps, although there may be some veiled reference or ambiguous or inconclusive evidence pointing to that possibility -- an allusion to a book or movie that shows the planning of a violent act, or a vague, general statement about the availability of weapons.
  • There may be a specific statement seeking to convey that the threat is not empty: "I'm serious!" or "I really mean this!"


High Level of Threat: A threat that appears to pose an imminent and serious danger to the safety of others.

  • Threat is direct, specific and plausible.
  • Threat suggests concrete steps have been taken toward carrying it out, for example, statements indicating that the threatener has acquired or practiced with a weapon or has had the victim under surveillance (FBI, p. 9).


"A school cannot ignore any threat of violence. Plausible or not, every threat must be taken seriously, investigated, and responded to. A clear, vigorous response is essential for three reasons: first and most important, to make sure that students, teachers, and staff are safe (that is, that a threat will not be carried out); second, to assure that they will feel safe; and third, to assure that the person making the threat will be supervised and given the treatment that is appropriate and necessary to avoid future danger to others or himself." [FBI, p. 25].

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