CAS releases revised standards for Student Conduct Programs

CAS recently approved the revision of its Student Conduct Programs (SCP) Standards and Guidelines.

The Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) has released revised standards to provide direction for Student Conduct Programs. CAS, composed of 41 collaborating professional associations representing over 100,000 professionals in higher education, has developed standards and guidelines for 44 functional areas, and rooted them in the scholarship and work conducted within their respective fields. The new standards delineate expectations for educators in the related functional areas and are housed in the ninth edition of the CAS Professional Standards for Higher Education.

Dan Bureau, Standards Revision Committee Chair and Director of Student Affairs Learning Assessment at the University of Memphis, believes, “Ensuring that conduct processes are fair and maintain the safety of a campus community has never been more vital. CAS provides standards for student conduct that focus on educationally sound practices, particularly the learning domains in the program section. These standards allow for conduct administrators to ensure fair processes, promote learning through such processes, ensure accountability and reform, and engage stakeholders in keeping a campus community safe.”

Noteworthy changes to the revised Student Conduct Programs Standards include the following:

1. addressed increased attention to Title IX and sexual misconduct
   
2. removed bias toward student led conduct review boards - made more of an option than declaration of best approach.
   
3. new approaches such as restorative justice and managing behavioral intervention teams incorporated; these concepts not in existence during last review (2005).
   

The revisions to this set of standards were informed by a variety of resources including, but not limited to, the following:

Karp, D. R. & Sacks, C. (2014). Student conduct, restorative justice, and student development: Findings from the STARR project: A student accountability and restorative research project. Contemporary Justice Review, 17(2), 154-172. doi:0282580.2014.915140

King, R. H. (2012). Student conduct administration: How students perceive the educational value and procedural fairness of their disciplinary experiences. Journal of College Student Development, 53, 563-580. doi:10.1353/csd.2012.0058

Waryold, D.M., & Lancaster, J.M. (2013). The state of student conduct current forces and future challenges: Revisited. College Station, TX: Association for Student Conduct Administration.

Dr. Jennifer Waller, Executive Director for the Association for Student Conduct Administration, further supports the revised CAS standards, stating, “The work of student conduct programs has been under tremendous scrutiny in recent year. Having a peer reviewed, national recognized set of standards demonstrates a commitment by the student conduct profession to high quality practices devoted to student learning”

The revised Student Conduct Programs standards can be found in the ninth edition of the CAS Professional Standards for Higher Education and the revised Self-Assessment Guides. Pre-order is now available and more information can be found at www.cas.edu.

Please contact CAS executive director Marybeth Drechsler Sharp ([email protected] or 202.862.1400) with questions and media inquiries.