Student Conduct

Code of Conduct

As a member of the New River Community College Student Body,

I will act in a responsible manner with the utmost integrity at all times.

I will obey all college rules and regulations.

I will respect the rights and privileges of others.

Expectations

New River Community College students are expected to:

• Demonstrate a positive attitude toward learning.
• Maintain good attendance.
• Report to class sessions on time.
• Project a positive image.
• Demonstrate respect for self and others

Student Conduct

Each student at NRCC is considered a responsible adult, and it is assumed that everyone of college age will maintain standards of conduct appropriate to membership in the college community. Emphasis is placed upon standards of student conduct rather than on limits or restriction of students. Guidelines and regulations governing student conduct usually are developed by representatives of the students, faculty, student services staff, and administration. The Student Code of Conduct is the set of standards that has been established as the guideline for the behavior of those in the student community. Failure to meet standards of conduct acceptable to the college may result in disciplinary action, depending upon the nature of the offense.

The Virginia Community College System guarantees to students the privilege of exercising their rights of citizenship under the Constitution of the United States without fear or prejudice. Special care is taken to assure due process and to spell out a defined route of appeal when students feel their rights have been violated.

Student Misconduct

General Principles

All members of the NRCC community are expected to:

• Behave in an ethical and moral fashion, respecting the human dignity of all members of the NRCC community, and resisting behavior that may cause danger or harm to others through harassment, intimidation, bigotry, theft, or violence.
• Adhere to the civil and criminal laws of the locality, state, and nation, and to regulations issued by NRCC.

NRCC reserves the right to take necessary and appropriate action to protect the safety and well-being of the campus community. Such action may include taking disciplinary action against those individuals whose behavior causes disruption or poses a risk of danger to others in the college community.

The primary purpose for the imposition of such discipline is to foster the personal, educational, and social development of those students who are held accountable for violations of college regulations, to ensure the orderly functioning of the college, and to protect the college community and its integrity.

Specific Examples

Examples of misconduct for which students may be subject to disciplinary action, include, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO, the following:

• Disruption or obstruction of teaching, research, administration, disciplinary proceedings, or other college activities, including its public service functions or other authorized activities of the college.
  Includes disruptive words (spoken or written), actions, dress, or any other form of disruptive behavior.
  Inappropriate classroom behavior is judged to be a disruption. The faculty member has responsibility for control of the classroom and may take steps to insure an orderly environment.
• Commission of any criminal offense under federal, state, or local law.
• Violation of, or failure to comply with, any college policy, rule or regulation.
• Failure to comply with the directive of any person employed by the college in the performance of his/her duties.
• Conducting oneself in a manner that endangers one’s own health or safety, or the health or safety of other persons.
• Using intoxicants, or being intoxicated, anywhere on campus, at college sites, or at college functions.
• Illegal possession, use, sale, or distribution of any quantity, whether usable or not, of any drug, narcotic, or controlled substance.
• Inciting or participating in a disturbance, or a riot, or an unauthorized or disorderly assembly, on college-controlled property or at a college activity, resulting in the disruption or obstruction of college activities.
• Violation of college policy and/or applicable laws on sexual misconduct.
• Seizing, holding, commandeering, or damaging any property or facilities of the college, or threatening to do so.
• Refusing to depart from any property or facilities of the college upon direction by college officials or other persons authorized by the president.
• Physically detaining any person, or preventing any person from leaving any place where he/she is authorized to be, or removing any person from any place where he/she is authorized to remain.
• Obstructing the free movement of persons or vehicles on college premises or at college activities.
• Physical and/or psychological abuse or threat of such abuse of any person on college premises or at college activities. This includes hazing of any sort - either engaging in hazing or voluntarily submitting to hazing. Hazing” is defined as “To initiate or discipline (fellow students) by means of horseplay, practical jokes, and tricks, often in the nature of humiliating or painful ordeals.” Violation of this hazing prohibition renders the students involved and the organization subject to disciplinary action.
• Frivolous and repetitive implementation of the disciplinary policy without merit.
• Violations of course plan rules and policies.
• Academic dishonesty.
• Failure to obey NRCC’s computer use regulations and guidelines.
• Refusal to identify oneself on college property or at a college site or event when asked to do so by a college employee acting in the performance of his/her duties.
• Violation of campus and college fire regulations, i.e., failure to comply with emergency evacuation procedures, tampering with fire protection equipment, etc.
• Possessing on college property or at any college activity any deadly or dangerous weapon. Law enforcement officials required to carry a firearm are exempt. See Policy .
• Violation of college policy by smoking or using any form of tobacco inside any college building.
• Stealing, destroying, defacing, damaging, or misusing college property or property belonging to another.
• Unauthorized entry into, presence in, or use of college buildings, facilities or equipment.
• Forgery, alteration, or misuse of college documents, forms, or records.
• Failure to meet financial obligations to the college, including issuance of a check to the college without sufficient funds.
• Unauthorized selling, peddling, or soliciting on college-controlled property or at college activities.
• Gambling in any form, holding a raffle, or lottery on the campus or at any college site or function without proper college or other necessary approval.
• Violating any rule or regulation not contained within the official college publications but announced as policies or directives by a college official or other person authorized by the president.
• Willfully encouraging others to commit any of the acts which have been herein prohibited.

In addition to any of the examples cited above, a non-serious crime is anything that constitutes a misdemeanor under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Non-serious crimes are equivalent to our Level II offenses. A serious crime is anything that constitutes a felony, or a misdemeanor crime involving moral turpitude, under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Serious crimes are equivalent to our Level III offenses.

Level of Offenses

LEVEL I - DISCIPLINARY PROBATION: Duration depends upon the offense. May include college service/ restitution as part of the sanction. More than one offense at Level I will automatically move the student to Level II.

Level I offenses include, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO, these examples:

• Lying - misrepresentation of the truth.
• Stealing - unauthorized possession or appropriation of another’s property if total worth of item or items is below $100.
• Cheating - unauthorized communication of information before, during, and after an academic exercise. Plagiarism is included in this section. Instructor’s policy will also apply.
• Disorderly conduct - behavior that disrupts the educational process of the college. Includes disruptive behavior.
• Verbal abuse; threat of physical abuse; harassment: verbal/sexual.
• Failure to comply with directions given by a college employee.
• Careless damage to college property.
• Intoxication.
• Failure to pay debts to college (may result in blocked registration, transcript, etc.)
• Violation of Information Technology Student Patron Ethics Agreement .

LEVEL II - SUSPENSION: One semester to indefinite, depending upon offense. More than one offense at Level II will automatically move the student to Level III.

Level II offenses include, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO, these examples:

• Disorderly conduct - participating in/inciting a riot or unauthorized disorderly assembly (can be a Level III offense).
• Sexual harassment (physical fondling/touching).
• Endangering conduct.
• Malicious damage to college property.
• Illegal possession or use of any quantity, whether usable or not, of any drug, narcotic, or controlled substance.
• Possession of intoxicants anywhere on campus, at college sites, or at college functions.

In addition to any of the examples cited above, non-serious crimes, that is, anything that constitutes a misdemeanor crime under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, so long as it does not involve moral turpitude, is equivalent to our Level II offenses.

LEVEL III - EXPULSION FROM COLLEGE: Any serious crime, that is anything that constitutes a felony, or a misdemeanor crime involving moral turpitude, under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, is considered an automatic Level III offense.

Level III offenses include, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO, these examples:

• Disorderly conduct - participating in/inciting a riot or unauthorized disorderly assembly.
• Physical/sexual assault.
• Sale or distribution of any quantity, whether usable or not, of any drug, narcotic, or controlled substance.

Academic Honesty

Students will be expected to maintain complete honesty and integrity in their academic experiences. Any student found guilty of dishonesty in academic work is subject to disciplinary action.

The college may initiate disciplinary proceedings against a student accused of any form of academic dishonesty including, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, the following:

• Copying from another student’s test paper or other academic work.
• Using materials not authorized by the person giving the test.
• Collaborating, without authority, with another student during an examination or in preparing academic work.
• Knowingly using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting, or soliciting in whole or part, or possessing, the contents of an un-administered test.
• Substituting for another student, or permitting another student to substitute for oneself, when taking a test or preparing other academic work.
• Bribing or soliciting another person to obtain an un-administered test or information about an un-administered test.
• Appropriating another’s work without acknowledging the incorporation of another’s work in one’s own written work (plagiarism).

PLAGIARISM defined by Webster’s Third International Dictionary as follows:

Plagiarism:  to steal and pass off as one’s own the ideas or words of another; to use without crediting the source; to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source; to commit literary theft. New River Community College believes the following amplified definition ¹ to be useful:

Language: Plagiarizing the words of another consists of copying single words without acknowledging your indebtedness to the author. A student’s dictation and phraseology should always be his or her own except where he or she clearly indicates otherwise. Obviously it is not dishonest to copy an author’s words in quotation marks and give credit to the source by footnoting or by acknowledging the source in the text of your paper. If you paraphrase a writer’s words, you must acknowledge your indebtedness.

Ideas and Thoughts: Give credit to the source of any opinion, idea, or conclusion not your own. For example, the statement “Emily Bronte, unlike her contemporaries, was not concerned with the social injustices of her time” is a conclusion derived from an extensive knowledge of nineteenth-century fiction. If you really have such knowledge, you can honestly draw such a conclusion, but if you have stolen the thought from a critic or other authority, you are plagiarizing. Another example, “Because Gray found new ways to be boring, people thought that he was a genius,” is merely a plagiarism of Samuel Johnson’s “He (Gray) was dull in a new way, and that made people think him great.”

Plagiarism at New River Community College will constitute a punishable offense, and the use of syndicated research papers, essays, work copied from any electronic or other source, constitutes a violation of this rule.

        ¹ Virginia Tech