XXV: Conduct Committee

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XXV.A. General description of the Committee

The Conduct Committee exists to adjudicate all cases arising out of the grievance procedures in Section VII.F of the Policy Directory and any other complaints for which no grievance procedure yet exists but involve alleged conduct problems on the part of a member. The Conduct Committee has seven members, and its meetings are attended by the ConCom Chair, the Conduct Member Advisor, the ED and, where provided for in the policy, the members involved.

XXV.B. Composition of the Committee

1. The Conduct Committee is composed of two sub-committees of four people each, for a total of eight members. Each four-person ConCom sub-committee is its own separate decision making body, and each sub-committee shall independently review and decide on different cases with the oversight of the ConCom chair. The composition of these sub-committees at any given time can vary and rotate through any of the eight trained ConCom members.
2. All Conduct Committee meetings are attended by the ConCom Chair, the Conduct Member Advisor, the Cooperative Experience Manager and, where provided for in the policy, the members involved.
3. Any BSC member who is not a Member of the Conduct Committee may not vote in any Conduct Committee proceedings. Conduct Committee meetings are closed meetings, and as such BSC members not affiliated with the case(s) being heard cannot attend.
4. Quorum shall be at least two voting members, plus the chair.
5. Conduct Committee members apply through the central level hiring process, and shall be selected based on the quality of their applications. They will receive house-level workshift at a rate of 2/hours a week
6. Conduct Committee members shall serve terms of one year (Fall through Summer)
7. If a ConCom Member, for any contract period during the term, leaves the BSC, that Member shall thereby be removed from office.
8. The Conduct Committee Screening Committee (CCSC) shall be composed of the ConCom Chair, the Cooperative Experience Manager, the Conduct Investigator, and the Conduct Member Advisor. The Screening Committee meets before a case involving harassment to review the case reports, and develop recommendations for a conduct outcome and sanctions.
9. For cases involving harassment, a staff representative may be identified to serve on the Conduct Committee in place of one student Conduct Committee member in order to provide a staff perspective on the case. If this is a desired perspective, the CCSC will vote on the staff member’s participation.


XXV.C. Conduct Committee Participant Roles

1. The complainant is the person who filed the original grievance. This person provides an oral or written account of the incident(s) involved in the case.
2. The respondent is the person who is alleged to have violated policy. This person will be given the chance to respond to the complainant’s statement with their own testimony. Conduct Committee will decide whether they feel the respondent violated policy, and if so what sanctions should be applied.
3. The Conduct Committee Chairperson chairs the Conduct Committee. It is the responsibility of the ConCom Chair to organize and coordinate all communication with the ConCom members, all notifications sent to the respondent, and to introduce the case details during the hearing. The Conduct Committee Chairperson will vote on a case only in the event of a tie.
4. A ConCom Member serves as a voting member in determining a conduct decision in the best interests of the health and well-being of BSC members and the BSC as an organization. ConCom members actively participate in the conduct hearing, reviewing conduct philosophies and member rights with the respondent, reviewing the testimony of complainants and respondents, asking probing and restorative questions, and deliberating to find an outcome.
5. The Conduct Member Advisor (CMA) serves as the complainant and respondent’s primary contact throughout the conduct process. Before a hearing, the MA explains the conduct process, shares the member’s rights and responsibilities, aids the complainant and respondent in compiling relevant witness statements, and generally helps navigate the conduct process. In the meeting in the absence of the complainant or respondent in coordination with the Conduct Investigator, the MA presents any relevant documents provided about the case. After the conduct hearing, the MA contacts the respondent about their right to appeal.
6. The Cooperative Experience Manager serves as the Conduct Committee advisor, and aids the conduct committee student staff in preparing for conduct cases. The Cooperative Experience Manager also conducts conduct pre-hearings and interviews. As the advisor, it is the Cooperative Experience Manager’s responsibility to highlight the safety and security concerns and organizational liability taken on by decisions made by the Conduct Committee when the Conduct Committee is in deliberations.

XXV.D. Duties of the Committee

1. The Conduct Committee must interpret and apply section 22 of the Member Contract and section VII of the Policy Directory.
2. ConCom Members and the Chairperson must obtain a strong understanding of the policies they are charged with applying, and must thoroughly review prior to each meeting all sections that may be applicable for the cases that will be heard.
3. The ConCom Chair must notify, in advance of the meeting, all ConCom members of the types of cases to be heard, and flag if possible the applicable policy sections.
4. Conduct Committee Members may not vote on a Conduct Committee case that involves them personally. Conduct Committee Members must disclose any conflict of interest in a case, and after consulting with the ConCom Chair, must recuse themselves from voting if a significant conflict of interest is present.
5. The Chair must notify the unit, the Cooperative Experience Manager, and the Operations Assistant whenever a ConCom Member fails to attend a meeting of the Conduct Committee.
6. Unless granted an exception by the ConCom Chair, a ConCom member who misses more than one meeting of ConCom shall be removed from the position.
7. The Conduct Committee sub-committees must meet on a schedule according to the following guidelines.
a. There must be at least four regularly scheduled meetings of each sub-committee each semester.
b. The sessions must be distributed evenly throughout the semester.
8. The Conduct Committee will keep records of all conduct cases in a Shared Drive to be accessible to the Vice President of Experience and Training, the Experience and Training Committee, and the Cabinet, at all times.
a. This Shared Drive will be updated case by case and must include the following data:
i. The house and demographic information of both the complainant and respondent, including but not limited to race, gender, class, and disability
ii. The reported policy violation, including the specific policy that was allegedly violated and how it was allegedly violated
iii. Whether the individual was open to using Restorative Justice or another alternative conflict resolution
iv. The stage to which the conduct complaint progressed, and any written notes on the decision of either the CHC or the Conduct Committee
v. A timestamp of when revisions to the report is made

[Updated 5/10/22]

XXV.E. Training of the Committee

1. The Chairperson must, in coordination with the Cooperative Experience Manager, train the ConCom Members as a group in each contract period prior to the first session, and must as necessary provide training to any members elected after the beginning of the term.
2. Unless the ConCom chair grants an exception, any ConCom Rep who was elected prior to the group training of the contract period and who did not attend the group training shall automatically be removed from office.
3. No ConCom member may vote in any hearing without having first been trained by the Conduct Committee Chair.
4. Training materials, including the policy manual, must be sent to representatives before the training.
5. Training must cover at least the following topics
a. Purposes and duties of ConCom
b. Parliamentary procedure
c. Internal conduct rules and procedures
d. Relevant laws, policies, and regulations
e. Mock cases
f. Conduct Philosophies
g. Restorative Justice, Restorative Questioning, and Restorative Sanctioning
h. Duty of Care & Legal Implications of Conduct Committee Decisions
6. In addition to formal training times, the Conduct Committee members are expected to attend continuing education and professional development opportunities, as coordinated by the ConCom Chair throughout the year.


XXV.F. Quorum and Voting

1. A quorum of a simple majority of the committee members (two members) must be present for a vote to be valid.
2. The Chairperson of the Committee may vote only in the case of a tie.
3. The Cooperative Experience Manager may not vote.


XXV.G. Authority of the Conduct Committee

1. Conduct Committee may take any action provided for or otherwise implied in Section VII of the Policy Directory or Section 22 of the Member Contract.
2. Conduct Committee may relocate a member within the BSC system.
3. Conduct Committee may terminate the membership of a member.
4. Conduct Committee may specify conditions to which a member’s continued presence in the BSC must be subject (such conditions, which are to be appended to a member’s Member Contract, constitute what shall be referred to as a “conditional contract”).