Article I: Definition of Terms

1. Advisor: means any member of the college community who assists a student in responding to charges or in participating in any Judiciary Council hearing. An advisor may be any student, faculty or staff member at the Colleges or TCCS who is not a witness in the case, a panelist in the case, a Judicial Council chair, or, except when given written permission by the Vice President and Dean of Students, an attorney. Students are strongly encouraged to have an advisor when they appear before a judicial panel. The Dean and the Judiciary Council Chair shall inform respondents of their right to an advisor.
2. Appellate board: means any person or persons authorized to consider an appeal from a judicial body’s determination that a student has violated the Student Code. Appellate boards at Pomona include the hearing panels of the Appeals Board and, in some cases, the President of the College.
3. Collection of individuals: for the purpose of all judicial matters shall refer to any number of persons as defined by their collective actions, collective presence, or collective involvement in a violation of the Student Code.
4. College: means Pomona College.
5. College official: includes any person employed by Pomona College, performing assigned administrative or professional responsibilities. Including Resident Assistants, Campus Safety officers, administrators at other Claremont Colleges or at the Claremont University Consortium.
6. College premises: includes all land, buildings, facilities and other property in the possession of or owned, used or controlled by Pomona College and the other Claremont Colleges and TCCS (including adjacent streets and sidewalks).
7. Complainant: refers to the individual(s) initiating a complaint of a violation of the Student Code. In some cases the College may be the complainant.
8. Faculty member: means any person hired by the College to conduct classroom activities, or emeriti faculty.
9. Group: means any number of persons who are identifiable as a collective in the opinion of the College. These may include but are not limited to theme groups, sponsor groups, hallways, sports teams, and nationally recognized organizations.
10. Guest: is any Pomona student hosted by another Pomona student in their personal room and/or residence hall.
11. Hazing: The College defines hazing as an act or the creation of a situation that tends to endanger the mental or physical health or safety of a student; an act or the creation of a situation which tends to humiliate or degrade a student; or an act or creation of a situation which destroys or removes public or private property when these are part of initiation, admission into, affiliation with or continued membership in a group or organization. An act or a situation becomes hazing when an organization creates the dangerous, illegal, or humiliating situation and exposes students to it.

    (Effective January 1, 2007 the State of California amended the law governing hazing and included it not in the State Education Code but in the State Penal Code. The new law prescribes misdemeanor penalties for people or organizations who haze and felony penalties for hazing that results in death, bodily injury or psychological injury. The law allows the individual who is hazed to bring civil action against any person or organization involved in hazing. Hazing is defined as any method of initiation or pre-initiation into a student organizations or student body. Hazing that results in serious bodily injury, death or serious physical harm is a felony under the law. Hazing that does not result in serious bodily injury, death, or psychological harm is punishable by law with a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $5000, or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or both.)

12. Host: is a Pomona College student who, invites, receives, accepts responsibility for, or entertains a guest or visitor on campus. See “visitor” section in the Life on Campus and Residence Halls chapter in this handbook.
13. Investigating dean: means a faculty member or a college official whose role is to collect the facts of the case in a conscientious, impartial and fair manner. The investigating dean shall interview those with knowledge of the situation, review relevant documents and present an unbiased view of the alleged violation of the Student Code to the Judiciary Council or the Student Affairs Committee. To ensure a complete presentation of the facts, the  investigating dean may request those possessing pertinent information to appear before the hearing panel. Investigating Deans are drawn from the pool of staff and faculty who have completed the investigator training workshop, which is offered annually by the College.
14. Judicial body: means any person or persons authorized to determine whether a student has violated the Student Code and to impose sanctions. Judicial bodies at Pomona include the hearing panels of the Judiciary Council (including Penalty Boards and Appeals Boards), the Student Affairs Committee, the Vice President and Dean of Students and the Associate Deans of Students and of Campus Life.
15. Jurist or retired jurist: means any individual who has served as a judge in a court of law and has been selected by the Pomona College President or the President’s designee to preside at a hearing of the Judiciary Council when legal counsel is present.
16. Legal counsel or attorney: means any individual who has earned a degree from an accredited law school and is properly licensed to practice law.
17. May: is used in the permissive sense.
18. Member of the college community: includes any person who is a student, faculty or staff member, college official or any other person employed by Pomona College. It also includes faculty, students and staff at the other Claremont Colleges or at the Claremont University Consortium. A person’s status in a particular situation shall be determined by the Vice President and Dean of Students.
19. Organization: means any number of persons who have complied with the formal requirements for College registration as a campus organization.
20. Policy: is defined as the written regulations of the College as found in, but not limited to, the Student Code, the Student Handbook and the College catalogue.
21. Possession: means to have an item on your person or in an area for which you are responsible such as a residence hall room or an automobile. A student takes possession of a residence hall room by picking up a key, moving into a room, or by failing to notify the Office of Campus Life by the 10th day of the semester that they do not intend to occupy a room drawn by or assigned to the student. Students are responsible for all items in their possession including but not limited to contraband items.
22. Quorum: the minimum number of members necessary to conduct a hearing.
23. Respondent: refers to the person(s) or group cited in the complaint who allegedly violated the Student Code.
24. Shall: is used in the imperative sense.
25. Statement of alleged policy violation: means a written statement of the provisions of the Student Code alleged to be violated and the factual circumstances surrounding the alleged violation.
26. Student: includes all persons taking courses at the College both full time and part time or Claremont Colleges’ students who reside in Pomona’s residence halls. Persons not officially enrolled for a particular term but participating in study abroad or domestic exchange or on leave from the College are considered students.
27. Victim: refers to the individual(s) harmed by the alleged offense.
28. Visitor: is anyone, other than a parent, who is visiting a Pomona student who is not themselves a Pomona student. See “visitors” section in the Life on Campus and Residence Halls chapter in this handbook.
29. Vice President and Dean of Students: is designated by the Pomona College President and the Student Affairs Committee of the faculty to be responsible for the administration of the Student Code.

30. Preliminary Sanction: Any sanction imposed by a member of Student Affairs (including members of the Office of Housing and Residence Life) prior to or without a Judicial Council or Student Affairs Committee process.