The Office of Student Judicial Affairs (SJA) is a branch of the university concerned with maintaining and promoting academic integrity. The main goal of SJA is to inform students about university policies and to encourage academic integrity and social responsibility in order to prevent future misconduct.
More than 200 instructors reported 546 cases of alleged academic misconduct in the 2010-11 year. The most reported was alleged misconduct on exams, making up 44 percent, with plagiarism second with 37 percent. Although misconduct is not an acceptable part of the Davis community, it gives students a chance to learn from their mistakes through the disciplinary process. About 99 percent of all cases are resolved informally, which involves the reported student discussing the allegation with an SJA officer and coming to a mutual agreement to resolve the referral. Students that were referred for the first time made up 8 percent of all referrals.
Those who accept responsibility for their actions are usually allowed to continue their education, with the expectation that the student will finish their education with integrity. All students have the right to due process, and for those that cannot agree to a resolution, they may choose to have a formal hearing, where an objective panel resolves the case.
The sanctions assigned to students range in severity and are assigned based on the violation and previous misconduct, if any. Seventy-two percent of cases resulted in the student being placed on some sort of probation. Twenty-one percent of students were found to be not in violation and were assigned no discipline. The remaining 6 percent of students did not accept responsibility, and as such 5 percent (22 students) were suspended, and 1 percent (5 students) were dismissed from the university. Most cases also involve some sort of required community service arranged through the Internship and Career Center. Last year, 213 students put in 3536 hours of community service.
During the trial process, the SJA officers will often find why the student violated university policy, and can make resources available for the student to overcome difficulties. Last year 92 students received help in writing, study skills and time management from a specialist, 50 received personal counseling from CAPS and 63 completed assignments demonstrating they have the skills to not be referred again.
SJA also fields social misconduct referrals, such as alcohol and drug use, assault and shoplifting. Forty-one percent of these cases were alcohol or drug related, with theft and vandalism second with 22 percent. Since assault, both physical and sexual, is a serious problem, those referred may be placed on interim suspension to protect the community, and victims are provided support through SJA, CAPS and the Campus Violence Prevention Program. Like academic misconduct, social misconduct is usually resolved informally, with 84 percent receiving some type of probation, and 11 percent being found not in violation.
SJA also fields complaints and concerns from students about university faculty and/or policies. Sixty-two alleged grievances were received by SJA, with 48 being miscellaneous problems (grade issues, problems with faculty, etc.). Cases were also handled involving alleged arbitrary treatment, discrimination and violation of student privacy.
In total, the SJA handled 1200 cases of misconduct and grievances last year.
This report was compiled by the Office of Student Judicial Affairs.
