Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities Informal Hearing Process
The Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities (OSRR) recommends that the members of the NOVA community become familiar with the set of rules and expectations listed in the “Violations and Sanctions” section of the Student Code of Conduct. Unruly behavior, stealing, smoking, alcohol consumption or drug use are student conduct violations as listed in the Student Code of Conduct.
When a faculty member, student or community member completes a Student Conduct Report Form, that report is sent to the campus’ student integrity and conduct coordinator. Once the case is assigned, the coordinator for student integrity and conduct will contact the person who submitted the report to ask pertinent follow-up questions. They will also send an informal hearing notice to the accused student. The informal hearing notice will include an overview of the allegations and potential violations of the student code of conduct.
A description of the informal hearing process can be found in the “Conduct Process” section of the NOVA Student Code of Conduct. The informal hearing section states “During the informal hearing, OSRR will advise students of the allegation(s) and explain the student conduct process and clarify student rights and responsibilities. Every effort will be made to resolve the matter by mutual agreement.”
In an informal conduct hearing, the coordinator will explain the code of conduct to the accused student, ask questions and allow the accused student to respond to the charges. After reviewing the complaint with the student, if they accept responsibility for violating the code of conduct, they are issued consequences per the sanctions listed in the “Violations and Sanctions” section of the code of conduct.
If you have questions concerning the student code of conduct, please reach out to your campus coordinator for student integrity and conduct:
- Dr. Chevella Wilson (chwilson@nvcc.edu): LO and WO
- Lisa Zandel (lzandel1@nvcc.edu): AL and MA
- Steven Mosley (smosley@nvcc.edu): AN and ME
Submitted by:
Lawrence Nightingale, Interim Director of OSRR, LNightingale@nvcc.edu