With Temple’s increasing student population comes a need to expand the University’s rules and regulations.
The newly revised Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures reflects this need for expansion.
Put into effect Jan. 2, the new code serves to provide more consistency and efficiency to students going through the judicial process, said Katie D’Angelo, Director of the Student Assistance Center and code administrator.
“With the new code, there will be one judicial system for both undergraduate and graduate students,” D’Angelo said. “This way, all violations will go through one judicial process, aiding students to move along more quickly [in the process],” she said.
With the creation of one judicial system, the basic 31 violations have turned into 86.
“It’s not that there are that many more violations,” D’Angelo said, “but it worked out that way because we collapsed these violations into one system.”
One of the most important changes to the code includes the extension of the University’s jurisdiction. Before Jan. 2, Temple could only handle the disorderly conduct violation within 500 yards of the campus.
For example, if a student was intoxicated and “being rowdy and kicking trash cans down the street, Temple could only cite them for disorderly conduct,” she said. The city would have to deal with the underage drinking aspect, she added.
“There have been incidents with students and the immediate neighborhood,” said James Fitzsimmons, Dean of Students. “We haven’t had much recourse to help support mature behavior.”
But now, the University has jurisdiction over all 86 violations within 500 yards of the school. Temple will also have jurisdiction over violations happening on all shuttle buses and Temple-related trips.
“The intent was not for Campus Safety to go out and look for more stuff,” D’Angelo said. “But if there are health and safety threats or nuisances, the University has a responsibility to address them.”
Another revision to the code includes adding hazing as its own violation, according to Andrea Caporale, Coordinator of Judicial Affairs.
“Because there was never a specific hazing violation, we had to charge students under other violations, like providing alcohol to minors,” Caporale said.
The addition of making hazing its own violation led to another important matter. The code now also allows Temple to not only give sanctions to individuals, but organizations as well. This way, groups like fraternities, sororities and athletic teams can be charged for hazing and all other violations as a group.
To aid in hearing cases more efficiently, the number of faculty and students has increased, Caporale said.
“We couldn’t get matching availability times because there was a limited pool of TSG approved students and Faculty Senate approved faculty,” she said.
With the new code, there is no limit to how many students and faculty can sit in on cases. Administrators are also allowed to hear cases, Caporale added.
Along with allowing cases to be heard by more students and staff, deadlines to hear the cases have been imposed.
This is the third revision to the code, according to Fitzsimmons.
“The nature of the campus has changed from a commuter school to a more residential school,” he said. “This code has been updated to reflect the society in which we live.”
“The ultimate purpose of this is to educate the students,” D’Angelo said. “We’ve all been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but hopefully students will go through this process to help make better decisions in the future.”
Nina M. Sachdev can be reached at nms@temple.edu.
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