Julia Garrison, Contributing Writer
On April 12, 2023 Dean of Students and Director of Student Rights and Responsibility Dr. Amy Franklin-Craft issued an email to the Wooster student body that announced a meeting in which the Office of Students Rights and Responsibilities would be meeting with students to review the Scot’s Key and receive feedback on the conduct process. This meeting was meant to take place on April 17, 2023 at 8 p.m. but was canceled due to unknown reasons and without notifying the student body.
The Voice has been reporting on the recent news that the conduct process has been put under review. As cited in the article published on Friday, April 7, 2023, members of Scot Council, led by Grace Braver ’23, carried out a project where they researched other conduct processes at other liberal arts schools in the area, including Denison University and Kenyon College. Denison was included on the list for their inclusion of an in-house attorney and their precedence for education over punishment within their conduct process. Kenyon’s inclusion was due to their conduct layout and handbook. Students’ rights are easily accessible and are clearly outlined within their handbook.
As stated in the article published April 7, Scot Council pointed out these differences from other liberal arts schools to show where the College could improve in its conduct process, specifically by making the conduct process “educative in nature, not purely punitive,” as stated in the Missions and Outcomes Conduct Presentation. Scot Council’s presentation also included the need for students’ rights to be included within the correspondence regarding a conduct violation from the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities.
Scot Council outlines their goals in these changes for conduct by stressing the need for collaboration between “students, faculty and other key members of the university community to improve awareness of value-based behaviors” and “enforcing university policies and procedures fairly and consistently.”
This is not the first time the conduct process has been under review. The conduct process has shifted for years on how it is written, who writes it and who can put it under review. Former contributors and editors for The Voice have been covering these issues as they arise, specifically with the Sept. 24, 2021 news article by Editor-in-Chief Aspen Rush that detailed the concern from the student body about consistency within the conduct process.
At this time, there has been no public statement released on why the meeting was canceled, and no follow-up or make-up meeting has been announced. While no official communication has transpired about the cancellation of the meeting or the possibility of a new meeting, on the bookings schedule for Lowry room 201, there is a make-up meeting scheduled to take place Monday, April 24 at 8 p.m. Dr. Franklin-Craft and Dean of Students Ashley Reid, who is also serving as Interim Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, could not be reached for comment by The Voice.
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