11.17. Special Timelines for Cases Originating Near the End of a Semester, and the Operation of the Honor Council during Summer School

The honor council is not obligated to immediately take up any new cases submitted within fewer than ten academic business days of the last day of final exams for a given semester.

Honor code cases filed in a fall semester but which cannot be fully adjudicated at that time will roll over into the following spring semester. Honor code cases filed in a spring semester but which cannot be fully adjudicated at that time will roll over into the following fall semester, unless all parties (accused, accuser(s), witnesses, etc.) can simultaneously come together during the summer hiatus, in which case adjudication may proceed at that time. Cases filed in a summer semester but which cannot be fully adjudicated at that time will roll over into the ensuing fall semester.

Students whose cases roll over into the next regular (fall or spring) semester cannot receive official Oglethorpe transcripts nor can they graduate until their cases are fully resolved. It will be the responsibility of the secretary to inform the registrar of these situations.

For cases which roll over into the next regular (fall or spring) semester, complete adjudication must be within 25 academic business days of the start of that new semester. If the accused student is no longer enrolled at that time, he/she/they will be given the opportunity to return to campus for the adjudication process, in which case matters progress in the same way they would if the student was enrolled. If the student elects to not return to campus, or is unable to return to campus, then any “I” grade which was assigned pending adjudication of the student’s case will revert permanently to the grade of “F.”

There may be times when the accused person has a substantial vested interest in ensuring that a case is fully adjudicated by the end of a given semester, even if the case was submitted during the ten-academic-business-day period prior to the last day of final exams of the given semester. Reasons for such haste might include the fact that the student is scheduled to graduate that semester, or that the alleged offense is one which, if proven, would likely result in the expulsion of the student, or that the student intends to transfer and therefore will not likely be enrolled at the start of the next regular (fall or spring) semester. In cases of exigency like these, the student may request his/her case be fully adjudicated prior to the end of the semester in question. The secretary must accede to all such requests if they are for bona fide, compelling reasons. However, the accused person must simultaneously voluntarily relinquish all mandated timelines specified throughout the honor code and promise that he/she/they will not appeal any adverse ruling on grounds that the honor council didn’t follow its own timeline requirements. Further, the accused may have to surrender other rights to due process in order to accommodate such a request. For instance, if witnesses have already left campus for hiatus when the case goes to a hearing, then the accused will have to agree that such witnesses can be interviewed remotely (by conference call or video call, for example) rather than in person.