Washington Administrative Code › Title 132A - Peninsula College › Chapter 132A-125 - Code of student rights and responsibilities › Section 132A-125-075 - Student conduct committee proceedings-Appeals

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, and by the
			 Model Rules of Procedure, chapter 10-08 WAC. To the extent there is a conflict
			 between these rules and chapter 10-08 WAC, these rules shall control.
(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, as further specified in
			 RCW
			   34.05.434 and WAC
			 10-08-040 and
			 10-08-045. The chair may shorten
			 this notice period if both parties agree, and also may continue the hearing at
			 a later time for good cause shown.
(3) The committee chair is authorized to
			 conduct pre-hearing 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) Each party may be accompanied at the
			 hearing by a nonattorney assistant of his/her choice. A respondent may elect to
			 be represented by an attorney at his or her 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.