Article IV: Charges

1. Student Affairs must decide to initiate a charge before any case comes before the Judicial Council of the Student Affairs Committee. Student Affairs shall formulate the charge, which shall be a written statement giving the relevant regulation or policy that has been allegedly violated and the specic behavior or sequence of behaviors alleged to have violated that regulation or policy. An individual may be charged both as a member of an organization (or group), and as an individual (or member of a collection of individuals) for alleged code violations stemming from the same event (see Article I: Definition of Terms). Each individual charged shall receive a separate charge sheet. If there are multiple respondents to the same incident, the Judicial Council Chair shall review the statements of alleged policy violation and any other pertinent information, and shall determine whether the respondents shall appear before the same hearing panel.
2. All charges shall be brought within six school months of an investigating dean being formally assigned to the occurrence of the alleged violation. After that time, the judiciary bodies shall not consider a violation of the Student Code, unless there are exigent circumstances specified by the Dean of Students or their delegate. (For some offenses the state statute of limitations may be longer than one year and students may pursue claims in criminal or civil courts.)
3. A member of the college community may press a charge against any student for misconduct. Charges shall be discussed with a dean from Student Affairs.
4. An Investigating Dean shall conduct an investigation to determine if the alleged violation(s) has merit and refers to regulations over which the judicial bodies have jurisdiction. If the conduct complained of appears to violate the Student Code, the Investigating Dean shall deliver written SAPV to the respondent alleged to have violated the code. When the Investigating Dean deals with the violation administratively, a written SAPV is also required.
5. The respondent shall be invited to the Investigating Dean’s office to review the SAPV. In this initial interview the respondent has the following rights and the Investigating Dean shall inform the respondent of these rights prior to or during the interview. The respondent’s rights include:
   1. The option of having another member of the Pomona College community present as an advisor when conferring with the dean. (The respondent shall be informed prior to the initial meeting.)
   2. Being informed that the respondent’s rights are outlined in the Pomona College Student Code. (The respondent shall be informed prior to the initial meeting.)
   3. Being informed that the respondent is not obliged to accept responsibility for the charge but can instead ask for a full judicial board hearing. (The respondent shall be informed during the initial meeting.)
   4. Being provided with a copy of the Pomona College Student Code. (The respondent shall be provided with a copy during the initial meeting.)
   5. Being informed that having an advisor in the hearing is strongly encouraged. If the student does not have an advisor or know who to ask, the dean can provide a list of advisors. (The respondent shall be informed during the initial meeting.)
6. A written statement of alleged policy violation shall be presented to the respondent by Student Affairs as soon as possible, normally within 30 school days of the report of the alleged violation. When presented with the SAPV, the respondent has two options: The respondent may sign the SAPV sheet, agreeing to having violated the Student Code and agreeing to the description of the incident(s) in question; or the respondent may sign the SAPV, not agreeing to having violated the Student Code or the description of the incident(s) in question. If the respondent chooses the former, a penalty board hearing shall be held. If the respondent chooses the latter, a judicial board hearing shall be held. If the respondent cannot be contacted, fails to respond to the dean within 5 school days, or is unwilling to meet with the dean to review the charges, the SAPV shall be delivered to the respondent’s residence hall room and the College may charge the respondent with a violation of Article III, Section 16 (abuse of the judicial system - failure to obey the summons of a judicial body or college official) in addition to the respondent’s pre-existing charges. If the respondent is unwilling to meet with the dean, or declines to sign the SAPV, the dean shall assume that the respondent does not agree with the charges and a full judicial hearing shall be held.
7. The Investigating Dean may meet separately with the complainant(s) and the alleged victim(s) to notify each of them of their rights and to provide each with a copy of the Student Code.
8. After meeting with the respondent to review the charges, the Investigating Dean shall provide a copy of the SAPV to the chair of the Judicial Council or the chair of the Student Affairs Committee.
9. The Judicial Chair shall inform the respondent that they are strongly encouraged to have an advisor when appearing before a judicial panel.
10. When the SAPV is received from the Office of Student Affairs, the chair of the Judicial Council (or the chair of the Student Affairs Committee) shall fix the time and place of the hearing.
11. If the respondent asks for a full judicial hearing, the chair shall communicate to the respondent, at least 72 hours in advance of the hearing, the date and time of the hearing. The respondent or witnesses may prepare a written statement giving their version of the facts of the alleged violation.
12. The Investigating Dean shall make available to the respondent and the complainant(s), at least 2 days prior to the hearing, written documents that will be introduced in the hearing. The hearing panel may request documents not distributed in advance for the hearing.
13. The Office of Student Affairs may recommend a sanction, provide information on the resolution of similar cases in the past, provide background information on a respondent’s past misconduct or offer information relating to the effect of the respondent’s actions on the community. These items may be addressed in a confidential memorandum to the Chair. This memorandum shall be made available to the hearing panel only if the respondent is found to have violated the Student Code.