Article V: Hearings

Overview

Hearings shall be convened within 10 school days of a Statement of Alleged Policy Violation (SAPV) being provided to a respondent unless there are exigent circumstances specified by the Dean of Students or their delegate. 
The chairs of the Judicial Council shall convene the hearing following administrative procedures outlined in Article V. The Presiding Chair shall conduct the hearing, except in cases outlined in Article VI, Section A, Subsection 4. If the Head Chair and Associate Chairs are all unable to serve, the Student Affairs Committee shall hear the case.  
In exceptional cases where criminal charges are pending or threatened or other extraordinary circumstances exist, the respondent may make a written request to the Vice President and Dean of Students to have an attorney present, at the respondent’s expense. The Vice President and Dean of Students may accept or deny this petition after discussion with the Judicial Council chairs or the chair of the Student Affairs Committee. An attorney, if allowed, acts only as an advisor. An attorney may not act as a spokesperson and may speak only to the respondent. If the respondent has an attorney present, the Vice President and Dean of Students may allow the complainant and/or the College to be represented in the same limited manner. 
The chair of the hearing panel in cases where attorneys are present may be a jurist or a retired jurist selected by the President of the College or their delegate. In such cases, the chair of the presiding judicial body shall sit as a hearing panel member unless disqualifying circumstances prevent their participation. 
The role of the Presiding Chair (whether a student or, in unique cases, a jurist or retired jurist) is to ensure hearing procedure is followed, that hearings are conducted efficiently, and panelists engage in relevant discussion. If the respondent is found responsible (in the case of a full hearing) or has already accepted responsibility (in the case of a penalty hearing), the chair may provide relevant knowledge from past cases and impartially guide the panel in considering sanctions that restore the respondent and the community. 
The Presiding Chair in cases where attorneys are present may be a jurist or a retired jurist selected by the President of the College or their designee. In such cases, the chair of the presiding judicial body shall sit as a hearing panel member unless disqualifying circumstances prevent their participation.  
Panels for hearings shall include four members of the Judicial Council and a non-voting chair, which constitutes a quorum. 
The vote of a majority of the members of the panel is required to find a respondent responsible for a violation of the Student Code and/or to impose a sanction.  
A simple majority of the panel may overrule any discretionary decision of the chair.
A respondent may ask to remove one member of the hearing panel if they believe the panelist has a personal conflict of interest that would result in an inability to provide impartial consideration of the case. The chair may allow the respondent to question the panel members prior to the decision. The challenged individual will be replaced by the alternate panelist present at the hearing. Respondents shall not have the right to ask that the Presiding Chair be excused.
A dean from Student Affairs shall sit on the panel as a non-voting, ex-officio member during the presentation of witnesses and other materials. The dean is present to advise on the process and may ask questions of respondent(s) and witnesses to ensure that all pertinent information is considered. The dean may only remain during closed sessions for questioning and deliberation on responsibility and sanctions if requested to do so by the chair or a majority of the hearing panel.
The respondents, complainants, and victims have the right to have an advisor present at the hearing. The advisor must be a member of the College community, but must not be a witness in the case, a panelist in the case, except when given written permission by the Vice President and Dean of Students, or an attorney. The chair shall ask the respondent, complainant, and victim if any would like to have a Judicial Council member to be their advisor for the hearing while it is being convened, should they not yet have an advisor or would like a replacement. Replacement of an individual’s advisor shall only occur by the individual’s request.
The hearing panel may consult the case history file for guidance during the sanctioning process. All historical cases are for guidance alone, and panelists have no obligation to be consistent with or adhere to previous sanctioning decisions. 
In assigning sanctions, the hearing panel shall consider the kind of violation, the attitude of the respondent, the respondent’s previous conduct record, and the circumstances under which the violation was committed. 
When a sanction requires a period of time for completion, the panel shall specify a deadline for completion. The respondent must report to a member of Student Affairs when they have completed the sanction. The case is not complete/closed until the sanction has been completed. 
If the respondent does not complete their sanction by the stated deadline, Student Affairs shall report this fact to the Judicial Council chairs or the Student Affairs Committee chair who may assign a new and more severe sanction. 
The chair shall inform the respondent and the Dean of Students Office of the results of the hearing. The chair shall file a written opinion which explains the reasons for the decision with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office shall issue an official letter of notification to the respondent. When a hearing involves an incident of a violent nature, the Dean of Students Office, upon written request, shall notify the alleged victim of the results. 
In accordance with College policy, decisions made or actions taken under the Student Code shall not be posted on a student’s academic record (transcript) but will appear on a student’s disciplinary record. 
When the respondent in a hearing is an organization, the organization may be represented by no more than four organization members. 
If the respondent has been appropriately notified and fails to appear at the time and place set for the hearing, the chair may elect to conduct a hearing in the respondent’s absence or to arrange a new hearing. If they fail to appear a second time, they may be charged pursuant to Article III, Section 12, Interference with the judicial process and the scheduled hearing shall be conducted without the presence of the respondent. 
A single recording shall be made of all hearings during the time that witnesses and other pertinent information are being presented. Deliberations about whether the Student Code has been violated or about sanctions shall not be recorded. The recording will be kept by the Dean of Students Office. If the case is appealed, the respondent, the complainant, the victim, their advisors, the Student Code Administrator, the Judicial Council Chairs, the chair of the Student Affairs Committee, deans from Student Affairs, and members of the Appeals Panel may listen to the recording. Only the named individuals have the privilege of hearing a recording of a Pomona College judicial hearing. Students may not copy the recording or receive copies of it.

B. Full Hearings

Procedure
1. At the opening of the hearing, the chair shall describe the hearing procedure, read the SAPV and remind the respondent of their rights. They shall describe the standard of evidence to be applied to the case to ensure that panel members understand the Judicial Council’s standard of clear and convincing evidence and the presumption of innocence. Clear and convincing signifies that the violation must be highly and substantially more likely to be true than not. The chair must also stress that all decisions must be based on information presented at the hearing.
2. At the beginning of the hearing, the Student Code Administrator shall be recognized to present the facts related to the alleged violation of the Student Code. This presentation shall impartially state the facts of the case as they have been determined by the Student Code Administrator. Panelists may ask the Student Code Administrator questions about the facts of the case upon the conclusion of their presentation.
3. On the conclusion of the presentation by the Student Code Administrator, the respondent may give an opening statement and request that additional information be presented or additional witnesses called.The panel, complainant, respondent, impacted party, Student Code Administrator, dean from Student Affairs, and Presiding chair may all formulate questions. Questions must pertain to the facts of the case and may be directed at all parties present, excluding the panelists and the Presiding chair.
4. The complainant, respondent, impacted party, Student Code Administrator, dean from Student Affairs, and chair may present witnesses. Witnesses must attend the hearing in-person or virtually. The chair, panel members, respondent, complainant, impacted party, Student Code Administrator, and dean from Student Affairs shall have the right to question all witnesses.
5. The impacted party and/or a dean from Student Affairs may provide statements about the impact of the respondent’s actions on the victim or the college community.
6. The complainant and the impacted party shall be given the opportunity to respond to the presentations of both the Student Code Administrator and the respondent.
7. The respondent shall be given the opportunity to make the closing statement or presentation.
8. The chair may recess the hearing panel at any time to provide for gathering additional information or to provide a break. The respondent, complainant, victim, and each of their advisors, the Student Code Administrator, the dean from Student Affairs, and the Student Affairs staff member may be present when the hearing is reconvened.
9. The decision as to whether the Student Code has been violated shall be based solely upon information introduced into evidence in the presence of the respondent at the hearing. The respondent is entitled to a presumption of innocence and evidence supporting a violation must be clear and convincing.
10. After the hearing has been concluded, the panel shall go into closed session to determine whether the respondent has violated the Student Code and, if the respondent is found to have violated the Code, what sanctions should be imposed. This phase of the hearing shall not be recorded.
11. Present for this closed session are the Presiding Chair and all panel members.
12. The hearing panel shall first consider whether the respondent has violated the Student Code. The panel may find that the respondent has committed a violation if the information presented in the hearing provides clear and convincing evidence of such violation.
13. A respondent’s previous conduct record shall not be made available to the panel until after the decision concerning whether the respondent violated the Student Code has been reached. It shall play no role in determining whether a violation has occurred.
14. If a respondent is found to have violated the Student Code, the panel shall then consider sanctions. However, if the panel finds unanimously that the Student Code Administrator, another Student Affairs representative, or the chair of the hearing violated the procedure for administering alleged policy violations or hearings outlined in Articles V and VI respectively, and that these procedural violations had a material impact on the outcome of the hearing, then the panel shall include a statement of this violation of administrative procedure in its decision. In this situation the panel may, based on the extent to which the respondent was denied consideration of their position during the hearing due to the procedural violation, choose to limit sanctions or find the respondent not responsible. If the respondent is found not to be responsible, the alleged policy violations against the respondent may not be resubmitted in this situation.

2. Evidentiary Standard

The Student Code Administrator and respondent shall submit all evidence and a list of witnesses to the chair of a Full Hearing at least 48 hours prior to the hearing. The list of witnesses shall include an explanation of how each witness’ testimony is relevant to the hearing. Evidence and witnesses must be approved by the chair, pursuant to Article VI.
Upon approving all evidence and the witness list, the chair shall send the evidence and list at least 24 hours in advance of the hearing to the Student Code Administrator, dean from Student Affairs, advising deans to the Judicial Council, respondents, and complainant(s), panelists, and an alternate panelist unless the chair believes that concerns for confidentiality are sufficient to justify limiting its availability until the hearing is convened. In this case, the chair shall notify all aforementioned parties at least 24 hours prior to the hearing that there is evidence and/or witnesses who will be introduced at the hearing but not in advance due to confidentiality concerns.
If evidence or a witness is introduced after the 48-hour deadline, depending on the cause of the delay, the chair may still allow submission up to 12 hours after the evidence is sent out. The chair must inform the hearing panel of late evidence or witness submissions.
The chair of the hearing shall explain these requirements for evidentiary and witness submission when contacting respondents to schedule a hearing.
Pertinent records, exhibits, and written statements may be accepted as evidence for consideration by the panel as authorized by the Presiding Chair.
Evidence obtained by any College Official shall be obtained in accordance with College policy. Evidence obtained by a College Official in a manner that is not in accordance with College policy must be excluded by the chair, at their discretion and in consultation with the advising deans to the Judicial Council.
All parties submitting evidence are held to the same standard. The Chair shall exclude evidence that does not meet the following:

Eligible evidence includes:

Facts pertinent to the alleged policy violation.
- If witness testimonies are submitted as evidence, their accounts must be presented in person or virtually during the hearing, not in the form of statements.
Circumstances or attitudes that might affect the severity of any sanction imposed.
- One example of this kind of evidence is impact statements, which are accounts provided by affected parties that contextualize the harm caused to the community. Impact statements are used to determine sanctions, not responsibility.
- Cases from the case history file
- Non-eligible evidence includes:
  - Cases from the case history file

C. Penalty Hearings

1. Procedure

1. At the opening of the hearing, the chair shall describe the hearing procedure, read the SAPV and remind the respondent of their rights. They shall remind the panel that the facts of the case are not in dispute and that the hearing has been convened to decide on sanctions. The chair must also stress that all decisions must be based on information presented at the hearing.
2. The respondent and their advisor may attend the hearing to provide a statement about the Student Code violation or they may submit a written statement to the board. The written statement shall be presented to the chair at least 24 hours in advance of the hearing.

3.   The impacted party and/or a dean from Student Affairs may provide statements about the impact of the respondent’s actions on the victim or the college community.
4.   Three out of four members of the Penalty Board must agree on a sanction for it to be assigned.
5.   The hearing panel may consult the case history file for guidance during the sanctioning process. All historical cases are for guidance alone, and panelists have no obligation to be consistent with or adhere to previous sanctioning decisions.
6.   In assigning sanctions, the hearing panel shall consider the kind of violation, the attitude of the respondent, the respondent’s previous conduct record, and the circumstances under which the violation was committed.
7.   The chair shall inform the respondent and the Dean of Students Office of the results of the hearing. The Dean of Students Office shall issue an official letter of notification to the respondent. The decision of the hearing panel becomes effective immediately upon notification unless it requires suspension or expulsion.

D. Convening Student Affairs Committee Judicial Hearings

1.   Hearings conducted by SAC shall follow the same procedures as followed by the Judicial Council for full, penalty, and appeal cases depending on the nature of the case. However, anything in this section that contradicts or otherwise modifies Judicial Council procedure specified shall be considered superior.
2.   The Student Affairs Committee considers cases over which the Judicial Council has refused or is unable to accept jurisdiction or finds impossible to adjudicate.
3.   The chair of the Student Affairs Committee shall convene the hearing, notify the committee members of the time and place of the meeting, and conduct the hearing. If the chair is unable to serve, they shall designate a Student Affairs Committee member to serve as the hearing panel chair.
4.   The Student Affairs Committee chair is a non-voting member of the panel except in cases where the vote of the chair is required to break a tie.
5.   The respondent(s) may challenge up to two members of SAC, excluding the chair, when SAC conducts a Full Hearing and one member when SAC conducts a Penalty Board Hearing. These challenges shall be made by the respondent at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled hearing. The chair may excuse any member of SAC if they feel that the member is unable to hear the case in an impartial manner.
6.   When the Vice President and Dean of Students is unable to serve because of prior involvement in the case or for any other reason, another dean from Student Affairs shall sit on the panel as a voting member. A staff member from Student Affairs remains for the entire proceeding. The Judicial Council Chair shall sit as a non-voting ex-officio member when SAC convenes as a judicial body.
7.   The Student Affairs Committee, by a majority of those present and voting, may find that a student has violated the Student Code and may impose a sanction.

8. If a quorum of SAC (three student members of SAC and two faculty members of SAC) is not available for a hearing, the chair of SAC shall draw student hearing panel members from the Judicial Council and faculty hearing panel members from the Executive Committee of the Faculty.

E. Cross-Campus Complaints

In cases where an alleged policy violation has occurred on another campus or the complainant is from another campus, the College will take measures to ensure that the complainant understands the Pomona College Student Code and to ensure the impartiality of the Judicial Council, as provided in this section. After a hearing is concluded, a copy of the record to be included in the case history file shall be sent to the Dean of Students of the complainant’s home campus.

1.   The Judicial Council chair shall appoint a member of the Judicial Council to act as an advisor to the complainant. The advisor shall explain to the complainant the Student Code and the judicial process as it applies to the case. The advisor may be present at the hearing as an additional advisor.
2.   At the discretion of the hearing chair, the Dean of Students from the complainant’s home campus may appoint an impartial observer for the hearing. The observer shall write a signed evaluation of the hearing process to be submitted to the chair for internal review, and to the Dean of Students at the complainant’s home campus. The evaluation shall address issues of impartiality and process.
3.   The cross-campus observer’s presence at the hearing is subject to the following conditions:

The observer shall sign the Judicial Council confidentiality agreement.
The observer shall not speak or in any way influence the hearing.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the chair shall give the observer a form on which to make the evaluation.
The observer must complete and submit the evaluation before leaving the location of the hearing.
The observer shall surrender all notes about the hearing to the chair after completing the evaluation.