Rights and Responsibilities
In the university community, it is essential that safeguards be provided for each community member's freedom to teach and learn. In protection of these freedoms, the university must establish certain standards of personal conduct. The university may apply sanctions or take other appropriate action when the conduct of individuals interferes with the freedom to teach and learn, the safety and health of persons in the community, the maintenance or protection of property, the maintenance of necessary records, the provision of living accommodations and other services, or the sponsoring of non-classroom activities such as lectures, concerts, athletic events and social functions.
Students are members of the university community, as well as citizens of the city of Waltham and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As citizens, students are responsible to the communities of which they are a part, and the university neither substitutes for, nor interferes with, regular legal processes. Students are also accountable for offenses against the academic community. Therefore, an action involving a student in a legal proceeding in a civil or criminal court does not free the student from responsibility for his or her conduct in a university proceeding. If a student is charged in both jurisdictions, the university will proceed with its internal review according to its own timetable.
These policies and procedures are set forth in writing in order to give students general notice of community standards. A student who decides to study at another institution, whether domestically or abroad, while remaining enrolled as a degree candidate at Brandeis, must adhere to Brandeis policies, including, but not limited to, those set forth in the "Rights and Responsibilities" handbook. Students who violate campus or community standards may face conduct action at Brandeis and/or the host institution.
Brandeis University reserves broad latitude in defining and interpreting standards of behavior and in construing these policies and procedures.