Concurrent Legal Proceedings

Because students are also members of larger communities such as city, state and nation, their conduct may also be subject to review within another jurisdiction(s), when such conduct violates the laws of those jurisdictions. Criminal prosecution in the court system is designed to be punitive and to provide social consequences for convicted offenders. Therefore, disciplinary action is not and cannot be a substitute for judicial mechanisms of the larger community. Students charged under the College's policies may also be held responsible for violating existing local, state, and federal law. Because the purposes and consequences of the two processes are so different, such concurrent reviews are mutually exclusive and do not create double jeopardy for charged students. Conduct action at the College will in most case proceed without regard to the status of criminal proceedings and will not be subject to challenge on the grounds that criminal charges involving the same incident have been dismissed, reduced or not decided.