Next week, all students will receive a revised copy of the Student Code of Conduct in their college mailbox.
The changes to the code reflect a comprehensive reassessment of the rules and regulations that apply to the student body. In several cases, definitions of rules were added, expanded, clarified and revised.
"I hope that the students will find this more logical and easier to understand, and make it clear what the student's expectations are," said Tamara Kenney, assistant dean of students.
Perhaps the most important definition that has been altered is that of "student." Previously, a person living in a residence hall but not enrolled in any classes was not considered a student, which created administrative difficulties when penalizing individuals.
The definition of a student has now been expanded to include all persons taking a course or courses at Geneseo, either full time or part time, undergraduate or graduate. Withdrawing students still affiliated with the college, persons living in residence halls and students notified of their acceptance for admission to college are also considered students.
The definition of "academic honesty" has also been changed to include distinct definitions of cheating and plagiarism.
Changes that have been made to General Conduct Rules and Regulations include the addition of sections on hazing and surreptitious recording. Certain provisions were also clarified. For example, students are prohibited from possessing knives except for standard kitchen knives and folding pocketknives.
The affiliation policy was also changed to clarify that students are no longer allowed to affiliate themselves with organizations that are no longer recognized by Geneseo. This policy was enacted as a response to the death of Arman Partamian in March. "We found that we had no way of dealing with students who were joining organizations no longer recognized by the college," said Dean of Students Leonard Sancilio.
"While I think it's a good thing that the college is doing this, I think [joining unrecognized organizations] should be more socially unacceptable as well," said sophomore Kevin Contino.
"To me, I think the biggest issue is we're trying to philosophically approach the code from the point of view of education and community standards, as opposed to a judicial and punitive perspective," Sancilio said.
All of the changes made are already in effect.