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Disciplinary and Judicial Process

LBC | Capital Standards and the Judicial Process

 

Life Together

In order to live together in harmony and maintain a Biblically integrated educational community, we have chosen to be guided by Community Lifestyle Standards that outline life commitments to

• Pursue spiritual growth
• Exemplify genuine love and respect for one another
• Be marked with integrity
• Portray attitudes of humility to one another and submission toward authority
• Reflect Christ in our actions, words and thoughts.

 

Purpose of Discipline and Accountability

Campus Standards and the Judicial Process

Life Together

In order to live together in harmony and maintain a Biblically integrated educational community, we have chosen to be guided by Community Lifestyle Standards that outline life commitments to

  • Pursue spiritual growth
  • Exemplify genuine love and respect for one another
  • Be marked with integrity
  • Portray attitudes of humility to one another and submission toward authority
  • Reflect Christ in our actions, words and thoughts.

Purpose of Discipline and Accountability

The purpose of discipline at Lancaster Bible College is to help all students move toward spiritual maturity and to ensure our campus is a safe, healthy environment for living and learning in line with our Community Lifestyle Standards.  Our approach to discipline is Gospel-centered with the following goals in mind:  

  • Protection – allowing students to be safe and kept from harm.
  • Correction – allowing consequences to be useful as a warning and call to abandon sinful behavior.
  • Redemption – allowing hope to return and rescue individuals from destructive patterns.
  • Restoration – allowing individuals to restore their relationship with God and others.

 

Discipline begins with self and flows outward to others in humility and mutual accountability. 

  1. Self-discipline: Each community member has the responsibility to care for their own choices.
  2. Loving Confrontation: Each community member shares responsibility to care enough about others to confront one another in love. The progression of loving confrontation begins with friends, then resident assistants, then Student Affairs leadership.
  1. Scripture encourages Christians to speak the truth in love to one another
  2. Humility rooted in the Gospel is a necessary ingredient for loving confrontation
  3. Even if the confronted individual does not respond, we are to remain prayerful and committed to the restoration of that individual.

Depending on the circumstance and situation, especially those of a more serious nature with impact to the individual or the campus community, Student Affairs leadership may need to become involved immediately with the goals of discipline in mind.  Many scriptures inform our process, including: Gal 6:1-5, Heb 12:7-11, Matt 18:15–17, 21-35; Col 3:12–17. 

 

Encouragement to Voluntarily Seek Help

If a student is having difficulty with an issue in his/her life, whether it be in violation of the Community Lifestyle Standards or not, he/she is strongly encouraged to seek help from a member of the campus community. When students voluntarily come forward seeking help, every effort will be made by the College to bring healing, wholeness and reconciliation.

 

Department of Health Order for Higher Education Discipline

The U.S. Department of Health, Education & Welfare has released a General Order ED025 805. This directive deals with Judicial Standards of Procedure and Substance in Review of Student Discipline in Tax-Supported Institutions of Higher Education. The order is designed to encourage consistency with a ruling that took place in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

In summary, colleges and universities do not prosecute criminals; they discipline students who violate their rules. This order views the discipline of students in the educational community, for all but the case of irrevocable expulsion, as part of the teaching process. In the case of irrevocable expulsion for misconduct, the process is not punitive or deterrent in the criminal law sense, but the process is rather a determination that the student is unqualified to continue as a member of the educational community.

In administering any discipline, Lancaster Bible College is careful not to act arbitrarily or capriciously. Students are treated fairly and given due process. The General Order ED025 805 states:

The voluntary attendance of a student in such institutions is a voluntary entrance into the academic community. By such voluntary entrance, the student voluntarily assumes obligations of performance and behavior reasonably imposed by the institution of choice relevant to its lawful missions, processes, and functions. These obligations are generally much higher than those imposed on all citizens by the civil and criminal law. So long as there is no invidious discrimination, no deprival of due process, no abridgment of a right protected in the circumstances, and no capricious, clearly unreasonable or unlawful action employed, the institution may discipline students to secure compliance with these higher obligations as a teaching method or to sever the student from the academic community.” (pp. 5, 6)

A student admitted to Lancaster Bible College accepts the responsibility to conform to all College rules and regulations. Failure to meet this obligation will justify appropriate disciplinary sanctions. The sanctions are listed below in ascending order of severity.

Responsibility and Enforcement

The Board of Trustees is charged by law with the responsibility of making rules and regulations for the college and establishing policy governing the conduct of the college, its employees, and its student body. The president of the college is elected by the Board of Trustees to serve at its pleasure. The president is the chief executive officer entrusted by the Board of Trustees with the execution of its policies and the internal government and administration of the college. The Board of Trustees orders and directs the president of the college to administer and enforce its policies as herein announced. In carrying out this responsibility, the president is vested with authority to take such disciplinary action as in his judgment the circumstances warrant. The president has delegated this function to the Office of Student Affairs.

However, the president reserves the right to retain any case in which:

  1. There is an alleged violation of a student regulation where college property has been damaged or destroyed.
  2. There is an alleged violation of a student regulation where the conduct in question may threaten the safety of any member of the college community or any college property.
  3. There is an alleged violation of a student regulation where the action in question would disrupt the educational process and/or orderly operation of the college.
  4. There is an alleged violation of a student regulation where a federal, state or local law may have been violated.

Student Disciplinary Procedures

When a student is unable to abide by the values, standards and regulations of the College and/or is generally uncooperative or violates public laws, s/he will be contacted by a dean, site director, or his/her representative. At this level of response, a student either meets with an advisor, dean, or site director to discuss the details of what occurred.

  1. The advisor, dean, or site director will meet with person(s) involved in the matter. During the initial meeting, the participants will have an opportunity to share their account and ask questions. At the initial meeting, the advisor, dean, or site director will also outline potential Handbook or Community Lifestyle Standards violations. Adult Education students do not normally receive accommodations on campus, for an incident involving an on-campus resident, the Hall Director will be encouraged to attend the initial meeting.
  2. The following sources may be consulted in an investigation: documentation from incident/concern forms, input from the advisor, dean, or site director, faculty, or Public Safety.  If the offense was committed of campus and reported to us by a third party, additional sources as needed may be consulted, including but not limited to police reports, social worker documentation, information from staff at the student’s church, criminal history, background checks, and any other records to which we may have a legal right to access. 
  3. Conduct meetings will seek to cover three main areas, in keeping with our discipline goals:
    1. Truth: What happened and who was harmed
    2. Confession: What a student thinks and feels about what happened
    3. Gospel: What God and His Word, in relation to the Gospel, means in this situation
  4. If the issues involve differing accounts between two or more people, individual meetings will be held to seek the truth.
  5. The advisor, dean, or site director or representative will update the participants throughout the discussion / investigation process via e-mail.
  6. The advisor, dean, or site director or representative will document the details from the participants.
  7. The advisor, dean, or site director or representative will determine sanctions if needed.
  8. A final meeting will occur with the primary participants to discuss findings and sanctions (if needed).If participants fail to attend the meeting, conduct letters will be sent and sanctions enforced immediately. Failure to attend will void the opportunity of appeal.

 

Appeals

A student has the right to appeal a disciplinary decision made by the Associate Dean, Dean, Site Director or her/his representative. All appeals will be heard by the Vice President for Global or his/her designee.  An appeal must be made in writing and include the basis for the appeal, and must be received within three (3) calendar days after the receipt of an imposed sanction.  Appeals must be based on one or more of the following reasons:

 

  1. The sanction imposed is grossly disproportionate to the offense.
  2. The decision was not supported by substantial evidence.
  3. New evidence has become available that would significantly alter the results.

 

Any information included in the appeal that does not apply to the above three reasons for filing an appeal will not be considered in the appeal process.  After reviewing the incident report(s), appeal letter, and other pertinent information, the VP for Global or other appeals officer will make a decision within 10 business days of receiving the appeal and any related information, unless a determination is made that more time is necessary. If more time is needed, the participants will be notified. The decision of the appeals officer will be provided to the necessary participants in writing and will be final.

 

Sanctions

The range of sanctions is directly related to the nature and severity of the offense. The following sanctions are listed in order of severity.  Students who do not fulfill their disciplinary sanctions will be subject to further discipline, with the increased possibility of suspension. Typically, one or more sanction(s) may be applied whenever violations occur, including, but not limited to, the following:

  1. Admonition: An oral statement to the student explaining that he/she has violated a student regulation.
  2. Censure: A written statement to the student explaining that he/she has violated a student regulation.
  3. In-Kind Restitution (may include but not limited to): the reimbursement of costs for damage to, or destruction of, college property or property of any person; restitution in the form of appropriate service to be completed by the student; the relocation of the student within college housing facilities; the required attendance of the student to the appropriate educational programs.
  4. Monetary Fine: A monetary fine of an appropriate amount for minor disciplinary violations.
  5. Community Service: Service performed for the purpose of contributing back to the community
  6. Social/Community Probation: Indicates the behavior exhibited is socially unacceptable. Therefore, a designated period of time is set and a specific action plan is agreed upon for the student to complete.
  7. Restriction of Privileges: The restriction of any college privileges or participation for a specified period of time.
  8. Disciplinary Probation: A specified period of review and adjustment during which a student is under an official warning that his/her violation was very serious. While on disciplinary probation, a student will be considered to be “not in good standing” with the college and may face specific restrictions on his/her behavior and/or college privileges. Students involved in similar or additional disciplinary incidents while on probation may be recommended for immediate suspension or expulsion.
  9. Eviction from Residence Hall: Eviction from college housing without a refund if the student is currently residing in a residence hall or an on-campus apartment.  Adult Education students do not normally receive accommodations on campus. 
  10. Disciplinary Suspension: The denial of enrollment, attendance, and other privileges at the college for a specified period of time. In cases where a student is suspended for the duration of the semester, clearance for re-enrollment must be received from an Associate Dean. Permission to apply for readmission upon the termination of the period may be granted with or without conditions/restrictions. A student who has been issued a disciplinary suspension sanction may be prohibited from visiting on campus or attending all college or open social functions and is deemed “not eligible to return” to the college during the suspension period. The suspension shall be followed by a period of disciplinary probation.
  11. Interim Suspension: An interim suspension may be imposed by the Vice President for Global or his/her designee, prior to the beginning of the administrative process. The interim suspension may be imposed in extreme cases where the alleged action of a student(s) may pose a threat to the wellbeing of the college, any of its members, or him/herself, or there is substantial evidence that the continued presence of the student(s) on the campus will disrupts the college. Prior to imposing an interim suspension, every effort will be made by the Associate Dean, or his/her designee to give the student an opportunity to respond to the charge(s).
  12. Expulsion: The dismissal of a student from the college without the ability to apply for re-enrollment. A student who has been expelled is deemed “not eligible to return” to the college for a period of two years. Expulsion requires approval of the President.

Restorative Practices

Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Isaiah 1:17

Restorative practices ensure an awareness of those who are harmed as community standards are violated. They seek not only to prohibit the reoccurrences of such violations, but to repair the relational and other damage done in the violation itself.  In application, restorative practices begin by assessing who has been harmed in a community violation and helps the offending student to understand the ramifications of his actions and giving him the opportunity to take responsibility and repair harm done to his community.

The following restorative practices will be encouraged within the discipline process:

  1. Opportunity to offer official apology or provide reparation
  2. Behavior Plan
  3. Mediation and Discussion
  4. Education
  5. Complete a Biblical study or learning assignment
  6. Service opportunity to offended parties
  7. Referral to Director of Student Care or C3
  8. Accountability relationship
  9. Church involvement and spiritual disciplines

Notification of parent/guardian in disciplinary matters

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), as amended in 2000 and 2009, colleges and universities are allowed to notify a student's parents of any alcohol or other drug violations if that student is under 21 or is claimed as a dependent on the parents' federal income tax return. Thus, Lancaster Bible College reserves the right to contact parents/guardians in the case of alcohol and drug offenses by students under 21.