Thursday, Sept. 19, Senior Vice President for Student Affairs and Public Safety Virginia Ambler ’88, Ph.D. ’06 and Associate Vice President for Community Values and Connection Greg Henderson announced proposed changes to the Student Handbook in an email to the student body.
“The Senior Vice President for Student Affairs & Public Safety routinely submits for student comment any substantive changes that have been suggested for the Student Handbook for the coming year,” the College’s webpage on the changes stated.
Among the various changes, one includes a recommendation to remove the Student Conduct and Honor Appeals Board’s responsibility to provide a “merit” review for student conduct cases.
“With the use of Informal Resolution and Alternative Resolution, we have few appeals that would be forwarded to the Committee, yet the university spends considerable resources in appointing, training, and maintaining the Appeals Committee,” the College’s website states.
According to the page, the College concluded that a merit review is not necessary and instead appeals will go directly to the College vice president for Student Affairs, currently Ambler, or their designee.
The College says the move will remove a barrier for students to receive an appeal review.
The new changes also include a slightly more detailed description for disruptive behaviors. Apart from other examples, it added a section regarding guest speakers at the College.
“Attempting by physical force to cancel or discontinue speech by any speaker, or the obstruction of speech by any person intending to see or hear a speaker,” the new handbook states.
The move comes after other Virginia colleges and universities announced new rules for campus demonstrations.
The College is accepting comments about the recommended changes until Thursday, Sept. 26.