The Hearing Process
In accordance with article 6.5 of the Code of Student Rights & Responsibilities, students may choose to have a hearing if
- the Conduct Officer and the respondent are unable to come to an agreement on responsibility and/or consequence, and the Conduct Officer's chosen consequence includes a sanction separating the student from the University
- the respondent fails to appear for the conduct meeting and the recommended consequence includes separation between the student and the University
For additional information regarding a student's rights to a hearing, please see Conduct Adjudication Policies found in the Code.
The conduct system is designed to further the educational process; therefore, it is not comparable to, or a substitute for, jurisprudence under a criminal code. Therefore, formal rules of process, procedure, and/or technical rules of evidence, such as are applied in criminal or civil court, are not used in student conduct proceedings. The procedures are designed to balance the rights and responsibilities of the student accused of wrong doing with the rights of the accuser, other students, members of the academic community, and the public. Hearings should be conducted in order to provide a fair opportunity for hearing every participants position, explanations, and information.
Upon choosing to have a hearing, a student will schedule a pre-hearing meeting with a Student Conduct staff member. At this meeting, the student will receive a hearing packet which contains the following information:
- Hearing Packet Checklist (all of the information contained in the packet)
- Code of Students Rights & Responsibilities (the rights of responsibilities of students at Missouri State University)
- Hearing Script (example of a script a hearing could follow in the event a student chooses a hearing. Script language and structure are at the discretion of the hearing chair.)
- Frequently Asked Questions (common questions and answers)
- FERPA Release of Information Authorization Form (must be signed for outside parties to have access to student's confidential records)
- Hearing Packet Receipt (used by our office to be notified who is in possession of a hearing packet)