The Student in the Academic Community
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I. General Rights and Responsibilities
*(The following information is found on pages 2 and 3 of the printed Student Code of Conduct)
All members of the academic community have the responsibility to create and support an educational environment which will achieve the basic purposes of the University. Each member of the community should be treated with respect and dignity. Each has the right to learn. This right imposes a duty not to infringe upon the rights of others. The academic community should assure its members those opportunities, protections, and privileges which provide the best climate for learning. Views and beliefs expressed by a member of the academic community should be kept within the community unless released by the individual. The University encourages a variety of modes in thought, behavior, and values within the guidelines of the educational community.
An important aspect of the educational effort is the recognition of differences between individuals. In all instances, including informal campus activities and associations, each individual should be assured that judgments about the individual will be made on relevant criteria which do not include race and color. Each member of the academic community should actively encourage practices and policies to insure that all races, colors, creeds, and religions are welcome on the campus and are extended all the privileges of the academic community.
As more and more young people seek the benefits of higher education, it may be desirable for the state University to offer special recognition and assistance to students disadvantaged by limited educational opportunity.
A. Admission Policy
Admission policies of the University of Nebraska should be made clear to all applicants. The Charter of 1869 explicitly provided that admission and the privileges of the University cannot be denied to an applicant because of age, sex, race, color, national origin, religious or political beliefs.
B. Rules and Regulations
Regulations are not comprehensive codes of conduct, but rather expressions of the general expectations of the academic community. Upon admission to the University, students should receive statements of these expectations.
Rules and regulations should:- Seek the best possible reconciliation between personal freedom and necessary order.
- Be formulated with equitable participation by students in areas affecting student life.
- Be as clear and concise as possible, specifying to whom they apply.
- Be designed for guidance and correction of behavior.
- Be enforced by means of clearly defined channels which insure procedural fair play, including student's rights:
- to be informed of the specific charges against them.
- to receive, upon request, a hearing before a regularly constituted board with the privilege of appeal.
- to maintain status as a student while a conduct case is pending.
C. Off-Campus Freedom of Students
University students enjoy all the rights and privileges of citizenship. Students are subject, however, to the special obligations which accrue to them as members the academic community. Institutional effort should be exerted to develop, not inhibit, intellectual and personal development of students by the exercise of the rights of citizenship both on and off campus.
The enforcement of the obligations of students to the larger society is the responsibility of the legal and judicial authorities duly established for that purpose. If students are alleged violators of the law, they should proceed thorough legal channels, and institutional authority should never be used merely to duplicate those functions.
When the interests of the academic community are clearly involved, the authority of the institution should be asserted. The fact that a violation occurs off campus does not preclude the interest and involvement of the University.
When participating in off-campus activities, students should make it clear that in their public expressions or demonstrations they speak and act only for themselves as individuals.
D. Student Records
All policies and practices concerning student records should be based upon respect for the privacy of the individual. To minimize the risk of improper disclosure, academic and disciplinary records should be set forth in an explicit policy statement. Transcripts of academic records should include only information about a student's academic status. Upon graduation, notations of probation and suspension will be removed from transcripts of the permanent record. Information from disciplinary and counseling files should not be made available to unauthorized persons on campus or to any person off campus without the expressed consent of the student involved, except under legal compulsion or where the safety of other persons is involved. Provision should be made for periodic destruction of noncurrent disciplinary records.
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