Student Conduct Procedures

Langara College has given authority to the Director, Student Conduct and Academic Integrity (or delegate) to:

• Investigate or assess reported or alleged breaches of College policy by a student;
• Make decisions regarding whether College policy has been breached;
• Work with a student to resolve a concern;
• Impose sanctions including conditions on continued participation in College-related activities if a breach is established;
• Make recommendations involving suspension for serious or repeated breaches; and,

When necessary to ensure an environment that is safe and conducive to working and learning, or pending the outcome of an investigation, the Director, Student Conduct and Academic Integrity has the authority to:

• Set conditions for continued attendance and participation in College-related activities;
• Temporarily remove a student from College-related activities;
• Temporarily restrict registration in a course or program;
• Temporarily restrict access to College services, programs, classes, campus facilities, individuals or events.  

In any student conduct or sexual violence and misconduct investigation, students have the right to:

• know the allegation made against them
• have an opportunity to respond and be heard before a decision is made
• appeal a disciplinary decision that is made against them
• have a support person during the investigation process

Before the Meeting
When the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity receives a report that a student may have breached College policy, the student will be notified of the alleged breach and that they are required to attend a meeting with the Director, Student Conduct and Academic Integrity or delegate.

At the Meeting
Before conducting the interview, the Student Conduct process will be outlined. At the start of the interview, the concerns or allegations will be explained, and the student will be given an opportunity to provide information about the alleged incident or situation. The interviewer may ask some questions to clarify and/or test the information provided by the student.

At the End of the Meeting
Once the interview is finished, the student will have an opportunity to ask procedural questions or offer any additional information not previously mentioned.

Following a Student Conduct Meeting, the Director (or delegate in consultation with the Director) will:

• Decide if the student is responsible for a breached of the Student Code of Conduct, or
• Undertake a further investigation and make a decision on the matter, or
• Discontinue action on the matter.

When necessary, Langara College may contact witnesses or other individuals who have pertinent information regarding the concerns and require the individual(s) to attend an interview. Names of witnesses may be provided by the student or another person. The Office of Student Conduct & Academic Integrity will determine which, if any, witnesses will be interviewed.

If further investigation is undertaken and an additional investigation reveals significant new information, the Director or Student Conduct Officer will inform the student and allow the student to comment on the new information.

An investigation may take from 1-4 weeks to complete, depending on the nature of the case.

If a student does not attend a meeting when required to do so, the investigation may proceed with all available evidence and the student may be deemed to have breached the Student Code of Conduct. The Director may:

• Make a decision based on the available information, or
• Temporarily remove a student from the learning environment until a meeting takes place, and/or
• Restrict activity on a student’s account until a meeting takes place.

Students may bring a support person who is a member of the college community to any investigation meeting or interview. A person who is not a member of the college community (including family) may not attend this meeting without the prior consent of the investigator. Support persons may attend, but do not participate in or provide comments during the meeting.

If you would like a support person from the Langara campus to join you, you can consider the following:

• LSU Ombudsperson
• Ask someone else from the college who you trust to join you.

Student Conduct meetings are administrative and are not legal. Legal counsel is not permitted to attend a Student Conduct meeting.

Students are asked to keep the details of the student conduct process private and confidential among those directly involved in the case or investigating/managing the case. Participants in a student conduct process are asked not to discuss the case with other students, instructors or colleagues.

Exceptions and limits
Students may discuss their situation with a support person (counsellor, family member, LSU representative, or confidante), but are responsible to ensure that confidentiality is maintained.

Confidentiality cannot be ensured if a student is/appears to be at risk of harm to self or others, or has made reference to harming a child or senior, or shares knowledge of a child or senior being harmed. In such cases, relevant information will be shared with the appropriate bodies to ensure the safety of the student/community.

Information may be requested from other College administrators, staff or faculty if it is deemed pertinent to the investigation, management or resolution of a situation. Information may be shared with other members of the College on a need to know basis.

Decisions in Student Conduct matters are made "on the balance of probabilities." The balance of probabilities means that something is more likely than not to have occurred. It means that the probability of some event happened is more than 50%.

The Director or the Student Conduct Officer reserves the right to work with a student to achieve an informal resolution to a concern or allegation as an alternative to rendering a formal decision and imposing sanctions.

Breaches of the Student Code of Conduct may result in sanctions. A sanction includes a range of interventions and penalties, including suspension from the College for serious or repeated breaches. When the Director decides that a student is responsible for a breach of policy, the Director will:

• Impose sanctions commensurate with the nature and severity of the breach.
• Inform the student about the sanctions and what is required to fulfill them.
• Monitor compliance with the sanctions, if required

For serious or repeated policy breaches, the Director may make a recommendation to the President for suspension from the College.

If the Director decides that no breach occurred, the student will be notified and the file will be closed. Sanctions will not be imposed.

Sanctions imposed by the Student Conduct & Academic Integrity Office do not appear on a student’s transcript or permanent academic record, except where a student is suspended from the College for disciplinary reasons.

Students may appeal sanctions imposed under the Student Code of Conduct if the student believes the sanction decision was unfair or incorrect. Appeals are submitted in writing and most cases; the student is not required to attend a formal appeal meeting.