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 that person is authorized to be, or removing any person from any place where that person 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 that employee’s 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 that student’s own except where the student 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

Student Conduct Addendum

The College’s Student Code of Conduct is hereby amended to include the following provisions and any violation of such shall be grounds for discipline under the College’s Student Code of Conduct policy. All other provisions remain unchanged and applicable:

A.  Disruptive Acts

1. Disrupting or obstructing the normal learning, living, or work environments of other members of the College community or the functions or activities of the College (as well as activities conducted on the College’s property with its permission) is prohibited. Examples include: blocking entrances, corridors or exits; interfering with ongoing educational activities, cultural events, or recreational, extracurricular or athletic programs; unauthorized presence in a building after normal closing hours or after notice that the building is being closed; interfering with vehicular or pedestrian traffic; creating unsanitary conditions; and interfering with any other effort to protect the health and safety of members of the College community or larger public.
2. No person may obstruct, disrupt, or attempt by physical force to cancel or discontinue speech by any speaker or the observation of speech by any person intending to see or hear a speaker.

B.  Violations of Laws, Regulations, and Ordinances

1. Prohibited conduct includes violations of federal, state, or local laws, regulations, orders, or ordinances.
   1. Students have a continuing duty to promptly report to the Dean of Student Services any arrests for violations of federal, state, local, or international law, excluding minor traffic violations that do not result in injury to others. This duty applies regardless of where the arrest occurred (inside or outside the Commonwealth of Virginia) and regardless of whether the College is in session at the time of the arrest. An arrest includes the issuance of a written citation or summons regardless of whether the student is taken into custody by law enforcement. Charges related to driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs are not “minor traffic violations” and must be reported.

C.  Masking to Conceal Identity

1. Consistent with Virginia Code § 18.2-422, any individual who is present on College property or attending a College event who is wearing a mask, hood, or other device whereby a substantial portion of the face is hidden or covered so as to conceal the identity of the wearer, must present a valid college or government issued identification document containing both the person’s legal name and photograph when requested by an authorized college employee, NRCC security officer, or law enforcement officer or otherwise establish the individual’s identity to the satisfaction of the authorized college employee, NRCC security officer, or law enforcement officer.

D.  Encampments

1. The construction or occupation of a Camping Tent is prohibited.
   1. “Camping Tent” means any collapsible tent or structure, typically having as its basic components a flexible material supported by a framework, designed, intended, or used as temporary shelter while camping or on recreational outdoor outings.  Camping Tents may include tents known as “pup tents,” “dome tents,” “cabin tents,” “hiker tents,” and “backpacking tents.” 
   2. A “Camping Tent” does not include a tent with all sides entirely open and where there is an unobstructed view into such tent from the outside at all angles.All other conduct provisions apply to the use of open tents.
   3. Only tents approved in advance pursuant to the NRCC Guidelines for Use of Facilities and Equipment shall be permitted.No Camping Tents shall be permitted at any time.All tents of any type must be removed no later than 10:00 p.m.
2. Camping is prohibited on property owned, leased, or operated by the College, Virginia Community College System, or their foundations.
   1. “Camping” means the act of using any part of the property or facilities for living accommodation purposes, such as establishment of temporary or permanent living quarters, sleeping outdoors overnight or making preparations for overnight sleeping (including the laying down of bedding), storing personal belongings, using any tent, shelter, or similar structure regardless of size for sleeping; sleeping in, on, or under parked vehicles, or setting up temporary or permanent sleeping areas outdoors or in structures not designated for human occupancy.
   2. “Camping” does not include the use of College, VCCS, or their foundations’ property that has been wholly or partially designated as sleeping or relaxation areas; a tailgating activity in conjunction with a College, VCCS, or foundation event; or the use of temporary hammocks or lounge furniture for recreation or studying activities outdoors on College, VCCS, or foundation owned property during the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
3. These prohibitions shall not apply to the College, the Virginia Community College System Office, or the College or System foundations or to Non-Camping Tents erected for their use.
4. These prohibitions shall not apply to federal, state, or local governments or their agencies or to Non-Camping Tents erected for their use.

E.  Applicability:

1. The Code of Conduct, including this Addendum, shall apply both to the conduct of individual students as well as student organizations.
2. Each recognized student organization shall represent that its activities and the activities of its members will not violate federal, state, or local law; or the College’s Code of Conduct, including this Addendum.
3. The Code of Conduct, including this Addendum, applies to all student activities within College, VCCS, or their foundations’ programs or activities wherever located.The Code of Conduct, including this Addendum, also applies to all student conduct occurring on the College campus and on any property owned, leased, or operated by the College, VCCS, or their foundations. The Code of Conduct, including this Addendum, additionally applies to any property used as a student residence and in regard to which students have expressly agreed to abide by or provided written consent to be governed by College policies. Violations of other College or VCCS policies may result in disciplinary action under the Student Code of Conduct.