This year, a new policy has been instituted that deals with the consequences of minor first-offenses on Fairfield’s campus. In the past, these minor offenders would be referred to the dean’s office and the FUSA student court. Now, small, student conduct boards will be established in each residence hall to hear minor first-offense cases.
The boards will consist of a representative from the dean of students, the area coordinator for the residence hall, and two members of the Fairfield RCC (Residence Community Council) for the building. Together, they will be called the RHCB, the Residential Hall Conduct Board. The boards will meet in Residential Hall staff offices to make decisions.
The residence hall conduct boards were initially established to offer an alternate method of addressing and resolving matters in the dormitories.
“When it comes to having a system in place to effectively address student conduct matters, we know that one size does not fit all,” said Tom Pellegrino, dean of students.
The residence hall conduct board serves as liaison between the Dean of Students office and Residence Life, and seeks to provide better decisions for students on campus.
Localizing the offenses to each building will hopefully have a better influence on the offenders. The administration feels the policy should be successful because by being evaluated by local area coordinators and RCC members, the students will be forced to see the effects their actions have on the community they live in.
“Residence halls are small scale learning environments and some of the most effective learning and development on a peer-to-peer level takes place in the halls. We wanted to take advantage of this,” said Pellegrino.
The idea for this new policy has been in the works for a long time now.
Pellegrino said the idea “began with students noting to me that it was sometimes difficult to differentiate between low severity matters and high severity matters when all matters were being processed through one office.”
“Recent work by the Goal 2 Integration of Living and Learning working committee all pointed towards the positive impact that educational intervention at the residential or community level could have a behavior modification,” he said.
President of IRHA (Inter-Residential Housing Association) Christine Papazicos ’09 explained how the system will work.
“We understand that it is sometimes intimidating to go to the Dean. We’re hoping our punishments will make students say, ‘Hey. I affected my peer.'”
Karen Donoghue ’03, advisor to IRHA, said the administrator from the dean of students will either be Allyson Berger, assistant dean of students, or Jason Downer, associate director of residential life.
Donoghue said minor offenses do not exclusively include drinking but also being noisy or even ripping down posters.
People who are being considered for RCC positions will be asked to send in a resume, have an interview and go through training.
“Being able to decide the fates of students is a big deal, and we do not take it lightly,” she said.
Other issues concerning the new policy have surfaced.
Some feel the RCC members have low participation and it may be hard to fill positions for the student councils. Generating interest in the positions may be a hard task.
Pellegrino made clear that this strategy is just one addition to a number of new tactics that will be used in the near future.
He said it will be “a system that empowers students to make their own connections and come to their own conclusions about the impact their individual behavior has on their neighbors, their residence life staff, their custodial staff and the buildings in which they live.”
Students on campus had various reactions to the new policy.
“I personally wouldn’t want to see the dean. I don’t think anyone wants to see the dean,” said Brittnee Leger ’11.
“I don’t know if the policy will be effective in stopping people from drinking in the dorms,” said Bryan Smith ’11.
“The new committee seems likea a good idea,” said Catherine Aldi ’08. “It gives options to the residents. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how effective it will be.”
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