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Neighborhood Livability Working Group <br />Modify University of Oregon Student Code of Conduct <br />Problem Description <br />The UO Code of Conduct covers inappropriate and illegal behavior by students on campus. When students are <br />involved in illegal behavior off campus, the Code of Conduct applies only if the student is connected to an incident <br />involving physical violence. Under very limited circumstances, the current Student Conduct Code does extend off <br />campus but not to the degree necessary to address the noise, property upkeep, and other good neighbor related <br />concerns of those who live around students. Many universities of similar size and community composition have codes <br />of conduct that include off campus behavior. <br /> <br />Strategy Description <br />The implemented strategy would require the university to include students who have received municipal citations for <br />a variety of neighborhood livability infractions (open container, furnishing alcohol to a minor, noise ordinance <br />violations, etc.) to go through the UO code of conduct process as well as the municipal court process. <br />Modifying the UO Code of Conduct is a multi-year process. The Student Conduct and Community Standards <br />Committee must agree to changes and then recommend them to the University of Oregon Senate for its approval. <br />University leadership would need to agree to the change and a significant campaign would need to take place to <br />convince those involved in this process that this change is warranted. <br /> <br />Related Goals/Policies <br />West University Task Force Report, 2003 <br />Modify Student Code of Conduct Consider modifying the student conduct code to include punitive measures <br />against students involved with serious criminal conduct, such as rioting, off campus. <br /> <br />Costs and Potential Resources <br />The UO has a very small unit of staff (one full time staff, one two work study students/interns) <br /> <br />administering all aspects of the Code of Conduct. In contrast, the University of Colorado, which includes <br />off campus incidents in the Code of Conduct, employs 12 staff just to deal with off campus issues. It is <br />estimated that the UO would need to add a minimum of two more full-time staff and another support staff. <br />Estimated cost for personnel would be at least $200,000/year. <br />Linking the Code of Conduct to off campus behavior is considered a best practice by many universities the <br /> <br />size of the University of Oregon. The experience of these institutions could serve as a resource for the <br />University of Oregon. <br /> <br />Issues to Consider <br />The politics of adding off campus incidents to the Code of Conduct are complex. There is little support <br /> <br />from students or faculty for this initiative, and the process for approving this strategy includes both <br />constituents. <br />Lack of current municipal police resources focused on neighborhood livability issues mean that only a small <br /> <br />number of students are cited for such infractions therefore, not that many students would go through the <br />Code of Conduct process. This might change if the Department of Public Safety starts enforcing off campus. <br />The Police Department and Municipal Court would need to add procedures to identify offenders as <br /> <br />university students. <br /> <br />Measuring Effectiveness <br />The recidivism of students in the municipal court process and Code of Conduct process could be measured. What <br />would be harder to quantify would be the number of students dissuaded from engaging in illegal behaviors in the <br />first place. <br /> <br /> <br />26 <br />Page <br /> <br />