When the severity of the alleged violation(s) could result in sanctions of Suspension or Expulsion, or if the facts of the incident are so complex that an AH is not appropriate, involved students will receive a hearing notice requesting their attendance at a pre-hearing, which precedes an SCB hearing . In a SCB hearing, the complainant and charged student come before a panel of three or five trained SCB members to provide their account of the incident, answer questions, and provide any information relevant to their case.

Attendance at hearings is limited to parties involved and University officials as deemed necessary by the Board and/or by OSCCR . Members of the Northeastern University Police Department or other law enforcement agencies may be present at hearings . Attorneys, parents, or guardians are not permitted in SCB Hearings unless given express permission by OSCCR . Hearing Advisors may attend at the request of the student.

 

Information Regarding the Student Conduct Board Hearing

  • The SCB consists of three or five students representing undergraduate, graduate, online, law, and professional studies students . In cases involving graduate and professional studies students, a simple majority of the Board members will be graduate and/or professional studies students. Where deemed appropriate in the discretion of the Director of OSCCR or designee, an SCB Hearing may instead proceed before a panel composed of three members of the OSCCR staff.
  • The chairperson will be a student and voting member of the SCB whose responsibilities during the hearing will be to act as presiding officer at hearings and in all voting procedures.
  • A Hearing Administrator from OSCCR will be present during the hearing and all deliberations to provide information on applicable University policy and procedures . The Hearing Administrator does not vote or represent either party . SCB Hearings are audio- or video recorded for the purpose of appeals only . Parties to appeals may request to listen to the recording of the hearing in the OSCCR . Recordings are not to be removed from the OSCCR . Recordings are destroyed upon completion of the appeal process . Recordings do not become part of any student’s record, or any conduct file maintained by OSCCR.
  • Determinations of responsibility are made based on a preponderance of the evidence, or a “more likely than not” determination, as determined by simple majority vote by the Board.
  • All records of a case will be treated as confidential, and disclosed only to the extent permitted under applicable law and University policy.
  • All decisions made by the SCB are subject to final approval or modification by the Senior Vice Chancellor for Student Life, or designee.
  • The Director of OSCCR, or designee, reserves the right to alter the composition of a Student Conduct Board by convening three members of OSCCR staff to hear the case collectively in lieu of a standard Student Conduct Board hearing.

 

Please refer to the Code of Student Conduct for a more detailed explanation of the Student Conduct Board process.