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UCI Office of Academic Integrity & Student Conduct

Parents

Section 1

Resources and Information for Parents 1

If your student has received a notification from the Office of Academic Integrity & Student Conduct that they have been reported as allegedly violating policy, here are some things you should keep in mind:

  1. If your student receives notice that they violated policy from the Office of Academic Integrity & Student Conduct, this does not necessarily mean that they are automatically found responsible. There is a process in place to allow the student to share their perspective and/or provide additional information.
  2. Encourage your student to follow the process and meet with the Office of Academic Integrity & Student Conduct if they are interested in resolving their case. Students have the right to not participate in the process, but we want to hear from your student if they want to share information.
  3. Review our website and Code of Student Conduct and encourage your student to do the same.
  4. Encourage your student to be honest and act with integrity during the process, including accepting responsibility if they did violate a policy.
  5. Remember that this process is not about judging your student's character. It is about addressing specific behavior and considering consequences for those behaviors.
  6. Recognize that this is not a legal or criminal process. 
  7. If sanctions are imposed, please note the primary goals of sanctions are to protect the safety of the University community, to educate students about the concerns related to the inappropriateness of their misconduct, and to provide opportunities for students to discuss alternative behaviors.
  8. Allow your student to learn from this experience. Much of a college education comes from both inside and outside the classroom. This is a great opportunity for students to be accountable for themselves.

Supporting Your Student Through the Conduct Process 2

As a parent or family member of a student, your relationship may change when your student goes to college, but you will likely still be a person your student goes to for support or assistance. As a result, you may be one of the first people that your student calls if they receive an email about possible conduct allegations. You might also be the voice of reason to remind your student that the conduct process is the way to hold other students accountable to the expectations of the University. Here is some information that can help you as you support your student through a conduct process:

  1. While we recognize that your goal is to provide support for your student, conduct staff ask that you provide this support unconditionally, but not blindly. Be aware that your student may not tell you all of the details of a situation.
  2. Understand that there is a process in place to consider all information regarding the incident in question and encourage your student to prepare themselves for the process. You can review this website to learn more about the conduct process, but also encourage your student to do so.
  3. When your student receives an email regarding a conduct case and has questions, direct them to contact a staff member in the Office of Academic Integrity & Student Conduct for information. Staff members are not permitted to give specifics to parents or family members without a waiver. This also empowers the student to solve their own issues and concerns.
  4. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) as well as University policies preclude University staff from discussing your student’s academic and conduct record without their written permission. Staff can answer questions about the process, but cannot provide specific details about a case without a written waiver.
  5. Practice the “24 Hour Rule.” You may receive a phone call or email message from your student because they are upset about being involved in a conduct case. You may be tempted to try to immediately fix the problem for them. This intervention invariably fails. Try to allow 24 hours to inform, guide, teach, and observe. Lessons learned through participation in a student conduct process must be experienced to have the desired effect. After all, gaining a higher education degree is about learning.
  6. Your student may ask you to serve as an advisor to them in the conduct process. This can be a challenging role for a parent, as the process is designed to allow your student to speak on their own behalf. If your student asks that you serve as an advisor, please click here for more information on the role of an advisor.

FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student educational records.  Aside from a few exceptions, institutions may not disclose information about a student without a student’s written consent.

For more information about FERPA, as it applies to UC Irvine, please refer to the UCI Privacy and Student Records page.

Students are allowed to have a support person/advisor. A support person/advisor can be an attorney, parent, friend, etc. During academic integrity and student conduct related meetings, a support person/advisor may act as a consultant for the student, however, they may not speak on behalf of the student.

If the student chooses to be accompanied by a support person/advisor during any meeting with our office, in accordance with FERPA, the student must complete and sign the FERPA waiver.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please see Frequently Asked Questions.

 

 

 

1 The information in this section has been adapted from The Center for Student Conduct at University of California, Berkeley's website:

2  The information in this section has been adapted from the Association for Student Conduct Administration's "The Student Conduct Process: A Guide for Parents" (2006) and The Center for Student Conduct at University of California, Berkeley's website.