If a student is found responsible for violating the Code of Student Conduct, sanctions will be applied.

Sanctions are imposed to strengthen learning and assist students/ organizations in adopting behaviors in order to avoid repeat violations. In determining appropriate sanctions, Hearing Administrators and/ or Boards look at the totality of the incident(s)/situation and its impact on the community rather than looking at individual violations. In addition, they consider/weigh the impact of the following:

  • Nature of the violation(s) – what happened?
  • Severity of the impact caused (damage, injury, or harm, etc.) from this incident .
  • Charged student’s past disciplinary record, which could increase the severity of sanctions imposed for incident in question.
  • Mitigating circumstances
  • Aggravating circumstances, which may include bias-motivation

Once these factors have been taken into consideration, Hearing Administrators and/or Boards will look to impose at least one inactive sanction and at least one active sanction. In many instances, more than one active sanction will be imposed. Hearing Administrators and/or Boards reserve the right to create active sanctions not included on this list if they determine that the sanction better addresses the concern and provides an appropriate opportunity for learning.

Active Sanctions: Educational sanctions that require the student to take action. These include, but are not limited to attending a seminar, writing research or reflection papers, performing mandated service, or paying a monetary fine.

Inactive Sanctions: Sanctions that, by themselves, do not require the student to take action. These include, but are not limited to, written warnings, disciplinary probation, deferred suspension, suspension, and expulsion. These sanctions may put restrictions on students or their student status, such as limiting access to campus recreational facilities, residence or dining halls, or the ability to hold student leadership positions.

Please refer to the Code of Student Conduct for more information about the sanctioning process at Northeastern University.