Washington Administrative Code › Title 132L - Centralia College › Chapter 132L-351 - Centralia College-Student rights and responsibilities code › Section 132L-351-080 - Conduct committee-Procedure and evidence

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
(1)
			 Proceedings of the student conduct committee shall be governed by the
			 Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 34.05 RCW.
(2) The student conduct committee chair shall
			 serve all parties with written notice of the hearing not less than seven days
			 in advance of the hearing. The chair may shorten this notice period if both
			 parties agree, and also may continue the hearing to a later time for good cause
			 shown.
(3) The committee chair is
			 authorized to conduct prehearing conferences and/or to make prehearing
			 decisions concerning the extent and form of any discovery, issuance of
			 protective decisions, and similar procedural matters.
(4) Upon request filed at least five days
			 before the hearing by any party or at the direction of the committee chair, the
			 parties shall exchange, no later than the third day prior to the hearing, lists
			 of potential witnesses and copies of potential exhibits that they reasonably
			 expect to present to the committee. Failure to participate in good faith in
			 such a requested exchange may be cause for exclusion from the hearing of any
			 witness or exhibit not disclosed, absent a showing of good cause for such
			 failure.
(5) The committee chair
			 may provide to the committee members in advance of the hearing copies of (a)
			 the conduct officer's notification of imposition of discipline (or referral to
			 the committee) and (b) the notice of appeal (or any response to referral) by
			 the respondent. If doing so, however, the chair should remind the members that
			 these "pleadings" are not evidence of any facts they may allege.
(6) The parties may agree before the hearing
			 to designate specific exhibits as admissible without objection and, if they do
			 so, whether the committee chair may provide copies of these admissible exhibits
			 to the committee members before the hearing.
(7) The student conduct officer, upon
			 request, shall provide reasonable assistance to the respondent in obtaining
			 relevant and admissible evidence that is within the college's
			 control.
(8) Communications between
			 committee members and other hearing participants regarding any issue in the
			 proceeding, other than procedural communications that are necessary to maintain
			 an orderly process, are generally prohibited without notice and opportunity for
			 all parties to participate, and any improper "ex parte" communication shall be
			 placed on the record, as further provided in RCW    34.05.455.
(9) In cases heard by the committee, each
			 party may be accompanied at the hearing by a nonattorney assistant of their
			 choice. The respondent in all appeals before the committee, or a complainant in
			 an appeal involving allegations of sexual misconduct before the committee, may
			 elect to be represented by an attorney at their own cost, but will be deemed to
			 have waived that right unless, at least four business days before the hearing,
			 written notice of the attorney's identity and participation is filed with the
			 committee chair with a copy to the student conduct officer. The committee will
			 ordinarily be advised by an assistant attorney general. If the respondent
			 and/or the complainant is represented by an attorney, the student conduct
			 officer may also be represented by a second, appropriately screened assistant
			 attorney general.