Honesty, integrity, and caring are essential qualities of an educational institution, and the concern for values and ethics is important to the whole educational experience. Individual students, faculty and staff members, as well as the University's formal organizations must assume responsibility for these qualities. The concern for values and ethics should be expressed in classes, seminars, laboratories, residence halls and, in fact, all aspects of University life. By definition, the University community includes members of the faculty, staff, and administration as well as students.
Education at Susquehanna University is not an ethically neutral experience. The University stands for, and seeks to inculcate, high standards. Moreover, the concern for values goes well beyond the observance of rules. A university is a place where expressing oneself, voicing disagreement, and challenging customs and beliefs are encouraged and honored. However, all such expressions and challenges need to be civil, manifesting respect and concern for others.
As a major constituency in the community, students are expected to follow the University's rules and regulations that, by design, seek to promote an atmosphere of learning.
While the University seeks to educate and encourage, it also has a responsibility to restrict any behavior that adversely affects others or is contrary to the pursuit of knowledge. The purpose of this Code of Student Conduct is to outline what is expected of the members of the University community, to set forth the specific authority and responsibility of the University in maintaining social discipline, to establish guidelines which facilitate a just and civil campus community, and to outline the educational process for determining student and student organization responsibility for alleged violations of University regulations.
