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The Institute shall be open to all students who are qualified according to its admission standards, barring no one on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, Efforts shall be made to seek out and admit students of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds whose potential could be reached through a Rensselaer education. Prospective students may, before entering the Institute, request Institute regulations, contractual rights, obligations and responsibilities. Section B: The facilities and services which are normally available to students under the rules and regulations of the Institute shall be open to all of its students without regard to race, color, religion, sex, predisposition, page 3 STATEMENT OF ADOPTION BY THE TRUSTEES The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Student Bill Of Rights has been considered by the Trustees. In order to safeguard the rights of all members of the Institute community, certain specific rules and regulations are necessary.
Recognition of the Student Bill of Rights as herein expressed is not intended to limit or restrict the ultimate responsibility and authority of the Board of Trustees to promulgate and enforce rules and regulations reasonably consistent with the general principles set forth in the Student Bill of Rights, which the Board of Trustees deems necessary and appropriate to the Rensselaer community. By its very nature, the Student Bill of Rights cannot be successful without corresponding student responsibilities and obligations which, although they have not been spelled out in the document, must of necessity be considered a part of it and ithout which it cannot succeed.
In adopting the document in principle, the Trustees wish to make clear to all concerned that their primary obligation, duty and concern is in the best interest of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as an educational institution and that this document, like all other policy statements and decisions concerning the Institute, is subject to the continuing paramount control of the Board of Trustees. Under no circumstances shall student fees or other Institute funds be used to promote, prosecute, initiate, or defend an adversary proceeding against the Institute without written consent of the Institute. omestic violence victim, or any other basis prohibited by law. Age or year in school shall not be used arbitrarily as a basis for discrimination, but there may be valid reasons for differential access based on educational goals or allocation of resources. The Institute shall endeavor to secure equal access for all students to public facilities in the local community.
Section C: Every prospective student shall have the right to a written explanation of the basis of eligibility for financial aid, and the requirements for continuation. In addition, recipients of such aid shall be provided an explanation of the easons for change in financial aid that may occur in subsequent years. ARTICLE Ill: STUDENT-TEACHER RELATIONSHIP section A: The professor in the classroom and in conference shall encourage free discussion, inquiry, and expression. Students shall be free to take reasoned exception to the data or views offered in any course of study and to reserve judgment about matters of opinion. Section B: Students shall have the right to learn from and be informed by the instructor about the procedures and standards by which they are to be graded.
Student performance in course work shall be valuated on an academic basis, not on opinions or conduct in matters unrelated to academic standards. Students shall have protection through orderly procedures against prejudiced or capricious evaluation. Section C: Information about student activities, views, beliefs, and political associations which professors acquire in the course oftheir work as instructors, advisors, and counselors shall be considered confidential. Persons who provide confidential statements or written judgments of ability and character in connection with an application in which the student gives express permission or the release of such information are responsible August 201 0 to the recipient and to the subject equally to be honest and fair in their judgment.
ARTICLE CONFIDENTIALITY OF STUDENT RECORDS The Institute shall publish an explicit policy statement as to the information which is a part of a student’s permanent official educational record and the conditions of its disclosure. To minimize the risk of improper disclosure, academic, financial, disciplinary, and medical records shall be separate, and the conditions of access to each shall be published in an explicit policy statement. Transcripts f academic records shall contain only information about academic status, and the student and his or her adviser shall have the right to see these records at any time. Information from student records shall be available only to authorized persons as determined by the Institute or legal regulations. Other persons, both on campus and off, shall have access to such records only with the express permission of the student.
No educational records shall be kept which reflect as such the political activities or beliefs of students. Provisions shall also be made for periodic destruction of inactive non- academic and non-financial records. The student shall have the right to view and contest the contents of his or her official Institute records, except those relating to his or her admissions application and all records of the psychological counseling and medical services, regardless of where such records may be physically located. ARTICLE V: FREEDOM IN STUDENT LIFE Section A: (1) Students shall be free to organize and join lawful associations to promote their common interests.
The policies and actions of a student organization will be determined by the membership within the limits established by the Rensselaer union (Institute student body) and other ppropriate bodies within the Institute. Affiliation with an extramural organization shall not of itself disqualify a student organization from recognition by the Rensselaer Union. In order to receive Rensselaer union recognition, Page 4 student organizations may be required to submit a statement of purpose, criteria for membership, rules of procedure, and a current list of officers. All Rensselaer Union organizations, including those affiliated with an extra-mural organization, shall be open to all eligible students without discrimination.
Recognition shall not imply approval or disapproval of an organization’s aims, bjectives, or policies. (2) The denial of access to facilities or reduction of funds shall not be used by the Institute or the Rensselaer Union as a means Of censorship or suppression Of any lawful activity. Rensselaer Union building facilities shall be available for the use of all members of the Institute community. Section B: (1) Students and student groups shall be free to examine and discuss all questions of interest to them and to express opinions publicly and privately. They shall be free to support causes by orderly means, including peaceful assembly, which do not disrupt the normal operation of he Institute. nless otherwise authorized, students and student groups speak only for themselves in their public expressions or demonstrations. (2) Students and student groups shall be allowed to invite and to hear any person of their own choosing. Such students and groups shall have an affirmative obligation to comply with Institute procedures which are designed to ensure that for such an event there is adequate preparation and security, and that such an event is conducted in a manner appropriate to an academic community. The sponsors Of any event shall make clear to the academic and t-large communities that such sponsorship does not necessarily imply approval or endorsements of the views expressed, either by the sponsoring group or by the Institute.
Section C: In the delegation of editorial responsibility to individual students, the Rensselaer Union shall provide sufficient editorial freedom for the student publications and other media to maintain their integrity of purpose as vehicles for responsible free August expression in an academic community. To this end, the Rensselaer union shall provide written clarification of the role of student media, the standards o be used in their evaluation, and the limitations on control of their operation. Editors and managers of student media shall be free from arbitrary suspension or removal because of student, faculty, administrative, or public disapproval of editorial policy or content.
Only for proper and stated causes shall editors and managers be subject to removal and then only by orderly and prescribed procedures as established by the Rensselaer Union. All Rensselaer Union published and financed student media shall explicitly state on the editorial or in other appropriate fashion that the opinions xpressed there are not necessarily those of the Institute or student body. Section D: Students shall be free, individually and collectively, to express their views on issues of institutional policy and on matters of general interest to the student body. The student body shall have a means of providing input on institutional policy affecting academic and student affairs.
The role of student government and both its general and specific responsibilities shall be made explicit, and the actions of the student government within the areas of its jurisdiction shall be reviewed through orderly prescribed procedures. ARTICLE VI: OFF-CAMPUS FREEDOM OF STUDENTS Section A: The Institute’s students are both citizens of the nation at large and members of the academic community. As citizens, offcampus, students shall enjoy the same freedom Of speech, peaceful assembly, and right Of petition that other citizens enjoy. Section B: When the activities of students result in apparent violation of the law, staff from the Division of Student Life, the Rensselaer union, Public Safety, and other appropriate administrative offices, shall be available to apprise the students of sources of legal counsel and other sources of assistance.
Students who violate the law may incur Page 5 penalties prescribed by civil authorities but Institute authority shall not attempt to duplicate the function of public authority. No student’s status at Rensselaer shall be altered on the basis of pending legal action or conviction for any crime, except when the presence of such student could constitute a danger to the safety of person or property on the premises of the Institute. If a student incidentally violates Institute regulations in the course of his or her off-campus activity, such as those relating to class attendance; he or she shall e subjected to no greater penalty within the Institute than would normally be imposed. Institutional action shall be independent of community pressure.
ARTICLE Vik PROCEDURAL STANDARDS IN DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS Section A: The administration of discipline shall provide procedural fairness to an accused student. Thus, each Institute regulation shall be as clear and specific as possible. The Institute shall initiate disciplinary action for conduct including that which could be a threat to the personal safety of members of the academic community, conduct that endangers property, and/or conduct hat is disruptive to the educational and administrative processes of the Institute. Disciplinary procedures shall take into account the case circumstances in particular, and each accused student shall be entitled to an individual inquiry/hearing if requested.
The jurisdiction of campus judicial bodies, the disciplinary responsibilities of institutional officials, and the disciplinary procedures, including the student’s right to appeal a decision, shall be clearly formulated and available in advance. Penalties shall be imposed or assessed under prescribed procedures. Section B: The student hall be informed of the nature of the charges against him or her and shall be given a fair opportunity to refute them. Neither the Institute nor any of its judicial bodies shall be arbitrary in its actions and there shall be provisions for the appeal of the initial decision. Except in extraordinary August 2010 circumstances, standards of conduct will be formulated with student input and published in advance through such means as a student handbook or a generally available body of institutional rules.
Section C: Premises occupied by, and personal property of, students shall not be searched (as distinguished rom ordinary maintenance activities) or seized without an externally issued search warrant or its internally issued equivalent based on comparable standards, or without the student’s knowledge and approval of the search, except in cases where Institute officials have a reasonable basis for believing that safety is involved. For premises not controlled by the Institute, the ordinary requirements for lawful search shall be followed. Section D: Students detected or charged in the course of serious violation of institutional regulations or infractions of ordinary law shall be informed of their rights. No form of harassment shall be used by Institute representatives to coerce admissions of guilt or information about conduct or about other suspected persons.
Section E: Upon verbal or written notification of charges, a student may be placed on an emergency suspension pending the hearing and determination thereof, when the continued presence of such student could constitute a danger to the safety of person or property on the premises of the Institute. In the event of such a suspension, the student, upon written request, shall have the right to a hearing before the appropriate Institute udiciary within five Institute business days after said request. STUDENT RIGHTS IN THE CLASSROOM Students have the right to be informed about the content and educational intent of a course, and about the procedures and standards by which they are to be evaluated.
Accordingly, at the beginning of each course, students should be provided with: 1 . A syllabus of the course including content and objectives as appropriate. Page 6 2. The policies which govern various factors used in the evaluation process along with a description of the method by which the final grade will be etermined. Factors to consider include homework, examinations, projects, papers, laboratory work, and attendance. Should changes in the content, procedures, or standards become necessary, the reasons for these changes should be explained to the class. 3. A statement of definition of academic dishonesty where such may be open to question.
Particular attention should be paid to collaboration on out-of-class assignments. The official policy, with regard to academic dishonesty, can be found in this handbook. STUDENT CONDUCT FOR INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS When people gather together in ommunities their rights as individuals may not be exercised in the same fashion as they might otherwise. Individuals’ rights impinge upon each other and laws are established in the larger society to govern in such cases. At Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, these regulations are set forth so that individuals will be aware of their responsibilities and be able to exercise their rights individually and collectively as stated in the Student Bill of Rights.
Out of concern for individuality and respect for student privacy, Rensselaer does not seek to impose a common morality on all students. At the same time, the Institute has the responsibility to establish certain standards of conduct within the campus community. In general, Institute regulations are concerned with conduct on the campus, but students must recognize that whether on campus or off campus, they are subject to local, state, and federal laws. Their responsibilities as citizens require that they conform to these laws, realizing that Rensselaer will not make any effort to protect students who violate their citizenship obligations from the consequences.
At the same time, the Institute is concerned with the student’s rights as a itizen with equal protection under the law. Any invasion of individual rights of privacy or activity that causes suffering or extreme physical exhaustion, or grave personal offense, or that interferes with scholastic work, or that constitutes any danger to person or property is strictly forbidden. Off-campus misconduct will not typically be the basis for disciplinary action by the Institute. However, when such conduct may constitute a threat to person or property within the Rensselaer community or under other circumstances, it may result in disciplinary review and/or action.
Rensselaer assumes the esponsibility to regulate the private conduct of its students when such conduct could constitute a hazard to or an infringement on the rights of others, a violation of the law, or a disruption of the legitimate academic and administrative processes of the Institute. Student organizations sanctioned or recognized by the Institute are subject to the same regulations as individual students. Institute recognition means that such groups accept corporate responsibility to protect members of the Rensselaer community and their guests from any violation of their rights in group activities and in activities of ndividual members. Such organizations are generally required to designate officers, but such action in no way diminishes the group’s corporate responsibility.
Failure of the officers, when acting in their official capacity, to protect the rights of members of the community and to uphold policy shall be considered behavior also subject to individual disciplinary action. Rensselaer accepts its responsibility to protect the mem bers of the community against any infringement of their rights by exercising its discretion to subject to disciplinary action any student who violates the rights of others. Authority for the administration of student Page 7 disciplinary and judicial processes at Rensselaer is vested exclusively in the Dean of Students Office, by delegation from the President. These policies are based first on the recognition that institutional existence is a privilege granted by public trust, subject to the sanctions and responsibilities defined by the society of which the Institute is a part.