Chapter 17 of the Student Non-Academic Disciplinary Procedures, which establishes rules in the area of non-academic misconduct on campus, is currently under revision.

Chapter 17 is the chapter of the Wisconsin Administrative Code that establishes the rules and consequences for student actions off campus. The university community says it wants to maintain a high standard of conduct and promote personal expression, but at the same time wants to provide a safe environment for everyone. This means that the university wants everyone to feel free to express themselves and have fun but to recognize there are consequences to their actions.

“Chapter 17 specifies the complete disciplinary procedures that campuses are required to use in cases where the basic conduct rules are alleged to have been violated by one or more students or by a student organization,” Rich Egley, dean of students, said.

Recent changes to the policy leaves the university open to discipline students for misconduct off campus.

“An off-campus incident where non-academic misconduct is alleged to have been committed by a UW System student is not going to result in an automatic disciplinary proceeding by the campus against the accused student,” Egley said.

Some of the disciplinary actions resulting from Chapter 17 range from a written warning to expulsion from campus and the UW System. One or more sanctions may be applied in a single case.

Some students at UW-P see this as a double jeopardy.

“UW-P should not be able to punish you for something that happened off-campus,” Kyle Hoffmann, a business administration major, said. “A person should only be punished by the campus if the
incident happened on campus property.”

Others feel that if the issue involves UW-P students, then university action is justified.

“If a UW-P student did something to another student then I think UW-P should be able to take disciplinary action,” Nikolai Wahl, secondary education major, said. “On the other hand, if the
incident took place off campus and didn’t involve another student I don’t think the university should have any involvement.”

The university maintains that it will follow due process and these revisions will not infringe on student’s rights.

“I have no doubts that clear standards for student conduct, clear guarantees of due process for students and opportunities to learn from mistakes are necessary for the common good in this community,” Egley said.

If revisions continue on schedule, Chapter 17 changes would go into effect on August 1, 2008.