About us
MISSION
The Office of Student Conduct, a department within the Division of Student Affairs, seeks to enhance the learning environment for members of the University of Georgia community by inspiring students to engage meaningfully, grow intellectually, and build character. This mission is accomplished by:
- Educating University of Georgia students and student organizations about their rights, responsibilities and expectations as members of a community.
- Providing a fair and educational process for students and student organizations through which alleged violations of the University Code of Conduct are resolved.
- Creating opportunities for student learning and development.
- Offering outreach services to educate faculty, staff and other community partners about the role of our office and the Code of Conduct.
Philosophy
When incidents happen and UGA students are involved, our office works with students to provide both an educational opportunity for growth and reflection and to assist in holding students accountable. We ensure that students receive fair treatment throughout the process, and we work hard to educate students about their rights and responsibilities before an incident occurs through proactive education. We also strongly believe that the entire conduct process should be educational, so we spend time with students getting to know them, making sure that they understand all steps of our process, and speaking at length with them about the potential consequences of their behavior on themselves, students, and other UGA community members.
We use situational sanctions to both address student behavior, provide a fair outcome, and make sure that unique student needs and opportunities for growth are addressed through our process. Students, faculty and staff who believe there has been a violation can contact the Office of Student Conduct to discuss options available for reporting incidents to the appropriate authorities. Office staff can speak to anyone who wishes to report a conduct violation and talk about the conduct process and their rights; staff members are also available for educational programs on a variety of related topics.
Students are what make the University of Georgia a great institution. Through the student conduct process, it is our aim to help students understand the impact of their behavior on the global community, and to assist them with making future decisions that lead to personal and professional success.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
The Office of Student Conduct has developed three learning outcomes for students participating in the conduct process. It is our mission to enhance the learning environment for all members of the University of Georgia community, and we do this through a process that utilizes educational sanctions. We recognize that a student isn’t defined by one bad night, or a bad semester; rather, often times it is how a person moves on from an adverse situation that shows their character. By adopting these learning outcomes, we have aimed to focus our process on educating students and helping them develop life long skills in these three areas.
- Integrity: Holding oneself accountable to personally established convictions. We hope that students will use the conduct process as an opportunity to reflect upon and determine their core values and convictions. By interacting with the conduct process, students will be encouraged to become aware of their convictions, examine their convictions critically, consider the congruency of their behavior with their convictions, and hold themselves accountable to their convictions even when consequences are unpleasant.
- Resiliency: Transforming adversity into opportunity for growth. A violation of the Code of Conduct is an adverse event in a student’s college experience and should be framed as a learning experience. By interacting with the conduct process, students will be encouraged to move through adversity, build new skills to overcome adversity, establish a higher functioning norm after adversity, and approach adversity as an opportunity for growth.
- Social Responsibility: Acting in regards to the interdependence of all members and aspects of a community. Students have social responsibilities in the University of Georgia community, the Athens-Clarke County community, and beyond. By interacting with the conduct process, students will be encouraged to consider how they interact with their communities, how others interact, and how they can engage as ethical, committed community members.
ANNUAL REPORTS
CONTACT CONDUCT
706-542-1131
conduct@uga.edu
247 Memorial Hall, Athens, GA 30602
Monday – Friday
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
The Office of Student Conduct is located on the 2nd floor of Memorial Hall. It is the white building located next to Sanford Stadium. When visiting our office, check in at room 247, which is most easily found through the upper-level entrance on Hooper Street.