Dean Goldstein: Revisions to the Student Code of Conduct

September 13, 2017

The Office of the Dean of Students is seeking comment from students, faculty and staff about suggested revisions to the University’s Student Conduct of Code. Information about how to participate is provided in the following recent message sent to Campus Life staff and the Campus Life Partners Committee by Adam Goldstein, dean of students and associate vice president of Campus Life:

Dear CL Staff and Partners,

You may have started your day with a cup of coffee, a bowl of fruit, and a copy of today’s Winston-Salem Journal.  If you did, you would see a beautiful article about our new Campus Recreation facility, student excitement about the environment that’s been created, and our own excitement about what the facility represents in our larger vision for Wellbeing at Wake.

You will also see an article about concerns students/faculty are expressing about the suggested revisions to our Student Conduct Code.  This article centers on concern about the minimum behavior we expect of students with regard to disruption.

The main message I hope you will take away and share with others is this: We really do want student, faculty and staff feedback. We hope everyone will feel comfortable sharing it with us as part of our planned public review process, which Associate Dean Matt Clifford proactively outlined in an email to the campus community last week. Here’s how people can make their voices heard:

• Feedback is encouraged on our Conduct Code Revision website where specific wording can be engaged and/or principled disagreement can be voiced.
• We are holding a series of Open Forums about different sections within the proposed Conduct Code revision, during which the revision process is outlined, and specific changes are identified and explained.
• We are also going to specific groups/areas to listen to concerns and engage in discussion about the complexity of the issues within each behavioral expectation.

We are intentionally operating with transparency and are seeking thoughtful feedback from community members. We anticipate robust discussion about what we should minimally expect of all undergraduates at the University.  In fact, that’s what this process has been designed to facilitate.

This process has been ably designed and led by Matt, and he has done an excellent job involving students, faculty, and staff to get us to where we are today.  As we enter this phase of the public review process, which runs through Dec. 1, Matt will continue to guide our community discussion about these issues.  Please let Matt or I know if you have any ideas or concerns, and please do encourage students, faculty, and staff to review and comment on the student Conduct Code by following the link below.

Sincerely,

Adam Goldstein, PhD
Dean of Students and Associate Vice President
Campus Life