On June 5, the Board of Regents, governing body of the University of Wisconsin System, passed policy revisions made to student conduct code policies, which went into effect Sept. 1.

With its passage, UW System students brought up concerns as to what these changes mean and how far the reach of the university can go when taking action against students for crimes committed off university property.

What are chapters 17 and 18?

Chapters 17 and 18 of the UW System Administrative Codecover policies and procedures relating to students’ behavior at all UW campuses. Put in place by the Board of Regents, these are the main chapters that deal with non-academic student conduct and conduct on university lands.

These conduct rules apply not only during the semester when classes are in session, but also during summer break, on weekends and now, due to recent changes, while away from campus, especially when on other UW campuses. Misconduct against another university student, employee or guest is also covered under these conduct codes.

On average, the Madison campus only holds five to six student disciplinary hearings a year, with never more than 10 in a year, according to Assistant Dean of Academic Staff Ervin Cox.

At these hearings, the university presents the information they have, the student presents his or her case and then a hearing body decides upon the verdict and severity of the punishment. Normally, however, if a student is found to be in trouble with the university, a deal is reached before going to a hearing.

While Chapter 18 is fairly straightforward, with only clarifying changes and minor tweaking, Chapter 17 has created some confusion in the past, causing the Board of Regents to make its policy changes to reflect the changing times, while also adding clauses similar to those found in other universities throughout the country.

What changes were made?

While many changes were made to both the Chapters 17 and 18 conduct codes, most of the changes were for either clarification or to update the code to reflect current times.

“A lot of the changes are technical in nature that brought the language up to speed to today’s terminology,” said David Giroux, spokesperson for the UW System. “The changes that clearly got most attention were the really egregious changes of conduct that might occur off campus and how that might affect your standing as a student.”

One of the major changes made to Chapter 17 includes breaking down and clarifying certain definitions of conduct. For example, there is now a specific policy for sexual assault. According to Cox, in the past, the university had to charge any sexual assault under “endangering the health or safety of another person.”

Other new changes made to Chapter 17 entail adding failure to comply with a university official and violation of any other university rules under conduct worthy of a disciplinary hearing.

“For example, if someone breaks a union or campus recreation policy not specifically part of Chapter 18, it is now part of 17,” Cox said. “Any published rules … can now be held accountable more specifically under the student code.”

Under the new changes to Chapter 17, the university has also gained the right to ban someone not specifically affiliated with the university from campus grounds.

According to Cox, in the past, the university has not easily been able to keep those people away due to the public nature of the university. Now, however, the chancellor has the authority to keep those threatening students or other officials off campus.

Hearing procedures have also changed in Chapter 17 regarding the role of the student adviser, normally a lawyer, in so far as if a student is involved in a suspension hearing, the adviser can now question witnesses on behalf of the student.

Finally, under the changes made to Chapter 18, if a student is involved in illegal activities which directly relate to their education at the university — such as a business student involved in credit card fraud — they can now be disciplined by the university because it significantly impacts the reputation of the specific school in which the student studies.

What does this mean for students?

While these changes have sparked much concern amid UW students as to how far the university will go in punishing students for offenses such as underage drinking, Giroux says students need not fret.

“I think [the changes] means that there’s some safety valve that students engaged in bad and dangerous behavior can be dealt with effectively,” Giroux said. “What we found ourselves in before was outdated rules that university couldn’t exert influence over students engaged in bad and dangerous behavior, but off campus.”

Cox echoed Giroux’s statements, adding the university is not going to look into every case of drunkenness or jaywalking, but only those actions which are serious criminal offenses, present danger to one’s self and others or seriously impair the UW or its public service mission.

So while many students have worried about the repercussions of these new changes, the average student need not worry for they will find themselves unaffected, not even noticing the passage of these contentious changes.

The News Explainer column will run every Wednesday, answering the questions and concerns of the student body. If you have any questions regarding a story that you would like to see further explained in this column, e-mail [email protected].