Student & Parent FAQs

Respond to the email sent by the Resident Director (RD) or Community Accountability to set up your student conduct meeting and/or hearing. For more information about the adjudication process, please refer to the Accountability Procedures via the website or the Bruin Guide.

The goal of our process is to be educational. Consequently, there is no benefit to accepting responsibility and no detriment to denying it. This allows you to reflect on your behavior and how it may or may not have violated the expectations of our community without any outside influence. If your self-reflection makes you feel responsible, then you should accept responsibility. If it does not, you should deny it. In either case, a hearing will allow you to explain why you were accepted or denied.

As you make a decision, you should remember that during a hearing, you will be asked not to engage in deceptive behavior. If the Council/Hearing Officer(s) finds it more likely than not that you engaged in deceptive behavior during a hearing, it may escalate sanctions. Accordingly, please be honest when deciding if you feel you are responsible or not.

The student has 2 business days from when the email notification was sent to contact their Resident Director or Community Accountability. Occasionally, Resident Directors will refer resident students to an Assistant Director of Residence Life or to Community Accountability. This decision is case-by-case based on the alleged behavior and the student’s conduct history. Once you have contacted your Resident Director or met with Community Accountability, a hearing will be scheduled. We will work to find a hearing time that is both convenient for you and the hearing officer(s) and resolves the incident in a reasonable amount of time. These are our goals, but please note that we will not rush our decision-making simply to expedite your process.

After an incident, you are encouraged to participate in a hearing. Think of it as a time to share your version of the incident. Your hearing officer(s) will represent our community. If you deny responsibility, your hearing officer(s) will determine if you are, in fact, responsible. If it is determined you are responsible for a violation, either through a hearing or your own admission, your hearing officer(s) will assign sanctions. We hope you take advantage of the opportunity afforded to students by Belmont to participate in the adjudication process.

It is hard to say what your sanctions will be, as the response to a violation depends upon the facts of the incident. Further, in an effort to be fair, we attempt to look at sanctions other students in similar situations received in the past. This allows us to be consistent when responding to your violation. For a list of possible sanctions, refer to the Bruin Guide.

Once decisions on responsibility and sanctions are finalized by your hearing officer(s), you may appeal if you so choose. Your hearing officer(s) can provide you with the appropriate paperwork and instructions for filing an appeal. Appeals must be filed within 2 business days after receipt of your hearing’s Outcome Letter. For more information about the appeal process, refer to the Adjudication Procedures via the website or the Bruin Guide.

In most cases, we do not contact parents/guardians. We view you as an adult; consequently, we will work directly with you to resolve your incident. However, keep two things in mind. First, you are free to contact your parents/guardians and discuss the incident at any time. We encourage you to do so. Though you may be an adult, your parents/guardians can help provide support and guidance. Second, we will contact parents/guardians about violations of our Substance-free Community Policy for both Alcohol and Drugs after your hearing if you are found or accept responsibility and are under 21 years of age, which is in accordance with Federal privacy law. We believe alcohol and drugs negatively impact your development; therefore, your parents have a right to discuss these choices with you. In those cases, we simply state to parents you were found responsible for an alcohol or drug violation and encourage them to speak with you about it.

You have a Student Affairs hold on your account for many reasons. A few reasons can be a failure to complete AlcoholEdu/Sexual Assault Prevention programs (typically offered during your freshman year), failure to complete a sanction that was assigned by your RD or Community Accountability by their due date or completed it after the due date but did not inform anyone, or some other outstanding issue/reason may place a hold on a student account. If you have a question about a hold on your account, please contact Community Accountability.

Having a disciplinary record does not automatically disqualify a student from all activities or opportunities but may impact some experiences. It is important to check with the office or program before applying, as they may have different expectations.

Maybe. Many scholarship agencies have expectations regarding the behavior of their recipients. It is possible that disciplinary procedures could ultimately have an effect on either financial aid or scholarships. It is important for you to be familiar with the behavioral and academic expectations.

It will become part of your conduct record if you are found responsible for a violation. Except in certain circumstances, Federal law requires you to complete a waiver before your conduct record may be shared externally. Graduate school and job applications sometimes require you to complete a waiver to be considered. Your conduct record will not be the sole criterion for determining your suitability as a candidate. Suspensions and expulsions are noted on transcripts; however, unless certain exceptions apply, incident details are not shared without a waiver. Your conduct record may be shared within the university in certain situations (e.g., you have applied for a leadership position, applied to study abroad, applied for a campus representative job, etc.). The advisor or supervisor for a particular organization, program, or job position will ultimately make the decision about your participation or selection; a conduct record does not automatically bar you. If you are already a member of an organization, program, or job position, it is your responsibility to inform your advisor or supervisor if you are placed on probation, suspended, or expelled.

Community Accountability can share information regarding our policies and procedures as outlined in the Bruin Guide. If a parent wants specific information about their student’s case, they will need the student to sign a FERPA release. This release must be made voluntarily. We encourage students to be open and honest with their parents about student conduct matters. Only under certain circumstances can Community Accountability reach out without student permission.

No. We do not allow parents and/or attorneys to participate in our adjudication process, regardless of their community membership. Parents can assist their students in preparing for their meetings and processing after their meetings. This is a student-led adjudication process, and student can present their own account of their conduct situation. Students are allowed to have an “Advisor” that is considered their support person for their hearing. The Advisor must be part of the Belmont community (faculty, staff, or student).

Fair question. Belmont must abide by FERPA, a federal law that requires Belmont to protect the privacy of student’s educational records. The student is the “legal entity” once they attend Belmont. The student educational records (which include student conduct records) belong to the student, not the parent or guardian. The student must give you permission to view their educational records.