Frequently Asked Questions

The Office of Student Code serves to educate students regarding their rights, privileges, and responsibilities as students at Missouri State University. The Office of Student Conduct uses an educational process to resolve alleged violations of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities and other University policies and help students to understand the expectations and impacts of their behaviors.

The incident reporting forms can be found on the Office of Student Conduct webpage. You may also feel it necessary to complete a Behavior Intervention Team referral or Bias Response Team report, depending on the situation. The incident reporting forms are also linked below.

General Incident Reporting/ Behavioral Intervention Team Referral Form

Fraternity and Sorority Life Reporting Form

Student Organization Reporting Form

Bias Incident Reporting Form

When the Office of Student Conduct receives a report of alleged violations of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities, a letter is sent to your Missouri State email address. It is beneficial to regularly check your junk folder, just in case! In most cases, this will be a charge letter or a notice of investigation. If you receive a letter from an Office of Student Conduct staff member, the first thing you should do is review the letter in its entirety. Some important things to look for are:

• A summary of the incident in question
• Any alleged violations/charges
• The date, time, and location of your assigned conduct meeting
• The name and contact information of your conduct officer

The letter will be sent to your Missouri State email account via Maxient, our secure management platform. To open your letter, enter your M#.

If the letter is sent to you as your role as president of a student organization, and the letter is regarding the student organization, use the organization’s M#. If you are unsure what the correct M# is, you may contact our office!

You may receive a Notice of Investigation from the Office of Student Conduct. An investigation means that the Office of Student Conduct has received a report and is looking to gather more information. During an investigation, no formal charges have been assessed regarding any policy violations.

Once the investigation is complete, the Office of Student Conduct will determine if there is enough information for any policy violations and charges.

During your conduct meeting, the conduct officer will explain the incident reported and work with you to understand your experiences during the incident. The conduct officer will provide you with the opportunity to share your side of the story. If you are found responsible for any policy violation(s), the conduct officer will work with you through assigning consequences and explaining your appeal rights. If you are found not responsible, the conduct officer will explain any relevant next steps.

The conduct adjudication process is explained in more detail under Article VI of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities.

Yes. You may bring one advisor with you to your conduct meeting. However, the advisor serves no speaking or advocacy role in the process. The conduct officer does reserve the ability to reschedule the meeting for a later time if your advisor does not abide by these guidelines.

If you do wish to have an advisor present at your meeting, you must contact your conduct officer and make them aware. The conduct officer will provide you with a Release of Information Form that your advisor must complete prior to your conduct meeting.

While you retain the right to not participate in the conduct meeting, the process will continue regardless. This is outlined in Section 6.5(e) of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities.

Just because you chose not to participate does not make you automatically responsible for the charges (Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities, Section 6.10). The conduct officer will decide based on the information available to them if there was a policy violation. Not attending the conduct meeting does, however, prevent you from being able to clarify facts and provide your side of the story.

In our process, students are not found “guilty”. The Office of Student Conduct strives to maintain an educational process and in doing so avoids legalistic terms such as “guilty”, “innocent”, “trial”, “plaintiff”, or “respondent”. Instead, you should expect to hear terms such as “responsible”, “not responsible”, “conduct meeting”, “hearing”, and others. If you are unsure on what certain terminology may mean, reach out to your conduct officer.

Office of Student Conduct staff utilizes a preponderance of evidence standard to determine responsibility for policy violations. This standard can be understood as whether it is “more likely than not” the violation took place, and you were responsible for that violation.

If you are worried about completing your consequences on time, contact your conduct officer immediately. While an extension is not a guarantee, your conduct officer will help work with you to determine a course of action for the future. It is better to contact your conduct officer as soon as possible than have overdue consequences. Any late consequences could result in a hold being placed on your student account.

The most common reason for the Office of Student Conduct to apply holds to a student account is because consequences have not been completed and it is past the assigned deadline. This hold will prevent you from registering for classes in future semesters, so it is important that you complete the requirements needed to remove the hold.

If you want specific information about your hold, contact our office!

You have the right to file an appeal for up to five (5) business days from the date your outcome letter was issued. The outcome letter will include this specific date. Section 8.2 of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities outlines two grounds for appeal:

1. Procedural Error: To determine whether the original hearing was conducted fairly in light of the charges and information presented, and in conformity with prescribed procedures giving the complainant a reasonable opportunity to prepare and present information that the Code was violated, and giving the respondent a reasonable opportunity to prepare and to present a rebuttal of those allegations, or
2. New Information: To consider new information, sufficient to alter a decision, or other relevant facts not brought out in the original hearing, because such information and/or facts were not known to the person appealing at the time of the original hearing.

Appeals can be submitted through the appeals form.

The Office of Student Conduct is committed to protecting the wellbeing of the campus community. Section 3.2 of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities provides jurisdiction of the conduct process to the “conduct of students, student groups and student organization which occurs off university premises when such conduct adversely affects the university, a member of the university community or the reflects a clear disregard for the rights and responsibilities found herein.”

“Double jeopardy” is a legal concept, found within the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, that prevents someone from being tried for the same crime twice. The Office of Student Conduct is not a legal process, rather it is an educational one that stands independent of any legal proceedings. Thus, you could be found responsible for a Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities violation in addition to any legal findings. (Ex: Minor in Possession and violating section 4.11 of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities).

If you are involved with both processes, discuss that with your conduct officer. This will allow your conduct officer to be a source of support and provide resources as you navigate that process.

All conduct records are subject to protection under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Meaning all conduct records are confidential to our office. If you wish to release these records to an individual or agency, you can fill out a release form to designate specific people to be able to view those records.

FERPA does allow for parental notification in cases where students under the age of 21 are in violation of alcohol or drug policies that result in certain types of consequences. Specific information regarding the Office of Student Conduct parental notifications is located within Section 7.1(j) of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities.

If you wish to have your records released to a specific person or organization, complete a Release of Information Authorization Form.

If you have additional questions, please contact us!

Office of Student Conduct

Plaster Student Union 405

StudentConduct@MissouriState.edu

(417) 836-5527

Connect with us on social media @MSUConduct