Community Standards: Student Accountability, Expectations, Rights, and Responsibilities
Our approach to supporting, protecting, and affirming student rights, responsibilities, and expectations at Hampshire College is grounded in established community standards that promote and enhance student learning, individual growth, and personal accountability. The College's community standards are centered around holding students accountable for their behavior and actions by providing care and support, engaging with and in educational opportunities and dialogues that promote individual growth, and creating and enhancing individual and community-based transformative experiences and interactions. Our goal is to promote, enhance, and encourage student success and wellbeing, both socially and academically; which includes providing students with the expectations, opportunities, resources, tools, and education they need to make informed decisions.
Community standards exist to foster and strengthen a learning, living, and working environment that is committed to individual and community care, restorative and transformative justice, educational opportunities and attainment, honesty, personal integrity and accountability, and respect for rights, responsibilities, and wellbeing of others, and whose members are dedicated to having these and Hampshire College's mission and vision inform the choices they make. The community standards that exist and the nature by which Hampshire College holds students responsible and accountable are laid out in the Student Handbook and Resource Guide and include but are not limited to:
These and other policies and expectations are designed to guide student behavior and action while also balancing the rights and responsibilities of the individual with that of the community's health, safety, and wellbeing, while at the same time uphold college policies and state and federal laws and regulations.
Informal and Formal Resolution Processes
Hampshire College values the ability to facilitate outcomes and engage with students in personal and community accountability through formal and informal processes. As often as possible, the College encourages students to utilize restorative practices and alternate resolution methods, such as working with resident advisors and area coordinators in residence life, connecting with the Office for Transformative Justice and Antiracism (TJAR), or speaking with a staff member in the Division of Justice, Equity, and Antiracism (JEA) to resolve conflict and address individual and community concerns.
In situations and incidents that involve an alleged policy violation, the matter is reviewed and addressed through either an informal or formal resolution process. This process aims to engage with students to determine if community standards were violated and, if so, develop an accountability and community restoration plan that promotes individual accountability, personal and community education, and restorative justice. Informal and formal resolution consists of the following:
- Informal Resolution Process: One-on-one meeting with a designated community standards administrator (within JEA and the Office of Residence Life) to review and address an alleged community standards violation. If a student, students, student organization, or athletic team are found responsible, they are assigned an accountability and community restoration plan and are expected to complete accountability measures.
- Formal Resolution Process: The student(s) participate in a community standards formal resolution meeting conducted either by a Community Standards Review Board (CSRB) convened by JEA and the Office of Community Standards and Student Accountability or an administrative hearing with a community standards administrator.
Formal and informal processes aim to repair harm and find a resolution for all individuals involved. As alleged violations are reviewed and addressed, the Vice President JEA or designee may put in place interim administrative actions pending the outcome of the community standards and student accountability process. Community standards policy violations and other community concerns that do not constitute a violation may, in addition to or separately, be addressed or referred to the JEA, Office of Community Standards and Student Accountability, and/or TJAR.
Policies related to academic matters are found in the Academic Policies section of the Hampshire College Student Handbook.
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