Washington Administrative Code › Title 495E - Renton Technical College › Chapter 495E-110 - Student conduct code and hearing procedures › STUDENT HEARING PROCEDURES › Section 495E-110-120 - Appeal-Student conduct committee

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 date. 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 is represented by an attorney, the student conduct officer may also
				be represented by a second, appropriately screened assistant attorney
				general.