HONOR COUNCIL HEARING GUIDE

For Students Charged with an
Honor Code Violation

What Has Occurred So Far

A member of the Mercer Community has notified a member of the Honor System about your alleged violation of the Honor Code. Every student through his or her enrollment at Mercer is subject to the Honor Code. It is not at all necessary that a person who reports an Honor Code violation be one hundred percent certain about the nature of the incident. Every suspicion of an Honor Code violation should be immediately reported to your professor or an Honor System member.

Your Investigator

Since your name has been given to a member of the Honor System, a Justice has been assigned to your case as an investigator. Your investigator will be your main contact with the Honor Council during this time of preparation for your hearing. He or she will also lead the questioning during your hearing. It is in your best interest to be sure that your investigator is fully aware of all aspects of your case.

Your Peer Advisor

You have the right to have a Mercer undergraduate student serve as a peer advisor and help you prepare for your hearing. Your peer advisor will also be permitted to be present during all testimony during your hearing and may aid you in preparing questions for witnesses. The peer advisor will not be allowed to answer questions on your behalf although he or she may advise you on how to answer. You do not have to answer questions you do not wish to answer.

Your Pre-Hearing Meeting

By this time your investigator has contacted you, your professor, and any other students or professors that might be involved. You may have had a "Pre-Hearing" meeting during which you were given information about the charges against you, read your "Rights and Responsibilities," and given an opportunity to ask any questions you might have about any aspect of the hearing or charges against you. You do not have to answer any questions asked by the investigator.

Part of your "Pre-Hearing" meeting may be devoted to discussing your responsibility for the alleged Honor Code violation. Although it might be beneficial for you to decide if you were responsible or were not responsible and notify your investigator before the hearing, you need not make that decision until the Chief Justice asks you at the beginning of the official hearing. You and your investigator should have also, by now, discussed some tentative dates and times for you hearing to be scheduled.

Witnesses

It is important that you immediately think through your case carefully and determine evidence you want to present and which witnesses you would like to call in your defense. As your investigator should tell you, you have only seventy-two (72) hours before the official hearing to notify witnesses to appear. No witness has to appear without seventy-two hours notification.

The witnesses being referred to are "Witnesses of the Act." These witnesses are those who were actually present at the time of the alleged honor code violation. You may call as many "witnesses to the act" as you wish. You may also call "character witnesses." These are witnesses who can testify as to your character, but have not witnessed the alleged honor code violation. It is discouraged that you do so, but if you believe it will add weight to your case you and your counsel may consider it. If there is someone whom you believe is essential to your case but is not cooperating with your request that he or she testify at your hearing, notify your investigator. It is the responsibility of a witness to be present at your hearing.

Notification

Upon meeting with your investigator and having a chance to examine evidence and a list of witnesses the investigator has, you will receive written notification of your hearing. The official notification may include:

1. The date, time and location of your official hearing.
2. The specific charges, including the section of the Honor Code you have allegedly violated.
3. A list of witnesses that may be called to testify about your alleged violation.
4. A list of the evidence that may be presented during the hearing.

If you have a serious conflict with the time that has been scheduled for your hearing you must notify your investigator immediately and in writing. It is a good idea to let him or her know by phone or in person as soon as you realize that there is a problem, but this does not replace the written notification of your time conflict. This written request for rescheduling your hearing must include the specific nature of your conflict. Hearing will only be rescheduled for the most serious reason. In any case, requests for a rescheduled hearing will not be considered unless the written request is received within forty-eight (48) hours of the date of your hearing notification. Not checking your mailbox is not an excuse for failing to submit your written request on time. If you have not obtained an official continuance and fail to appear at your hearing, the Council may decide, at its discretion, to conduct the hearing without you and to impose sanctions on you if you are found responsible for an Honor Code violation. It is, therefore in your best interest to arrive promptly to your hearing at its scheduled time so as not to lose your opportunity to participate in it.

If you have any questions about the charges against you and the section of the Honor Code which you have allegedly violated, your investigator will be glad to answer your questions. Never hesitate to contact your investigator about any question you might have about any part of your hearing.

Under usual circumstances, your hearing date will be at least seventy-two (72) hours after the date of your official hearing notification. It is your right to have seventy-two (72) hours notification of your hearing. You may, however, waive this right. If you wish to have your hearing less than seventy-two (72) hours after your notification and the Honor Council does not have any conflicts, an earlier hearing may be scheduled. Be sure to notify your investigator if you are interested in this option.

Joint Hearings

If the circumstances of your alleged violation are such that there are other students charged with a violation of the Honor Code participating in the same incident or related incident, the Honor Council may decide that a joint hearing is appropriate. The situations of multiple charged students in a joint hearing need not be identical.

If you have been scheduled for a joint hearing and wish to be heard individually, you must submit a written request forty-eight (48) hours of the date of the official hearing notification. This written request must include the specific reasons why you believe that at joint hearing would unfairly jeopardize your defense.

Your Hearing

How it will be recorded:   Audio recording of you hearing will occur. It is made so that the Council may recall the details of the hearing after it is over and so that a record of the hearing will be available to you and the appeal process should you decide to appeal the Council's decision. After the hearing, you may listen to the recording in the presence of the Chief Justice or any other two Honor System members. This tape recording will be kept on file until your graduation.

Who will be present:   When you arrive for your hearing, your investigator will meet you, show you where to sit until time for the hearing, and answer any final questions you might have. You may decide which witnesses you would like to call. You need to call every witness on your list.

Every hearing will be conducted by at least five Honor Council Justices. If the Chief Justice is absent, the Associate Chief Justice will preside. At least one faculty advisor may be present in a non-voting capacity.

Honor Council hearings are closed to the public. All of the witnesses who will be called during the course of the hearing will wait outside of the actual hearing until the time for their testimony. You and your peer advisor (if you choose to have one) will be the only ones present throughout the entire hearing, besides the justices, Honor Council faculty advisor(s) and investigator. An Honor Council Justice must disqualify him or herself if called as a witness.

Witnesses will not be permitted to discuss anything related to the hearing while they are waiting to be called before the Council. All witnesses will be asked to give true testimony to the best of their ability and reminded that providing false information could result in them being charged with a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. A full description of "Rights and Responsibilities of Witnesses" is in the Mercer Honor System web pages.

Before you come before the Honor Council:  After you have met with your investigator, he or she will have the right to question briefly all of your witnesses in your presence. You will be asked to wait a few minutes before you come before the Council. During this time, the Clerk will call the roll and the investigator may inform the Council of the case overview.

When you are called before the Council:  By this time you may have already been sworn in, but the presiding Justice will ask you, for the record, if you have been sworn in, advised of all your rights, and remind you that providing false information or willful omission of evidence are also Honor Code violations. Any attempt to provide false information or willful omission of evidence can be deemed as a Student Code of Conduct violation, in which case these charges will be forwarded to the University Judicial System. At this point you will be asked if you are responsible or not responsible for violating the Honor Code.

After you have stated whether you are responsible or not responsible for violating the Honor Code, the investigator will make an opening statement and then you may make an opening statement.

When the opening statements are completed the reporting witness will be called before the Council and all other witnesses for the investigator. The reporting witness is the witness who reported your alleged violation of the Honor Code and may be either a student or member of the faculty or staff. When the witnesses are called the investigator may ask questions, then you and the Council may ask questions.

After all questions have been asked the witnesses will leave the room, but may be called back at any time. The investigator will call his or her witnesses first and then you will call your witnesses to give testimony.

After all testimony has been presented, closing statements may be given. You will have an opportunity to give an uninterrupted summary of your case and closing statement. At this time you can add anything that you might have forgotten, reemphasize the points that you believe are most important to your case, and tell the Council whatever you want to be foremost in their minds when they begin the deliberation of our case. When you conclude your closing statement, the Council will deliberate behind closed doors. First they will vote on whether you are responsible or not responsible for an Honor Code violation. If you are found responsible sanctions will then be decided.

The Honor Council's Decision

The Honor Council will make its decision based solely on the evidence that has been presented during your hearing. If clear and convincing evidence of your responsibility has not been presented than you will be found not responsible for violating the Honor Code. If the Council decided that you have violated the Honor Code as charged, then they will also decide on a sanction(s) for your violation. The sanctions that the Council may impose upon you are described in "Sanctions for Honor Code Violations" section of the Mercer Honor System web pages. If the Council finds you are responsible, then it may take into consideration any history that you might have of prior offenses in the Honor System and Judicial System to decide appropriate sanction(s).

After the Honor Council has made its decisions, you will be called back into the room and the hearing will be reconvened. All of the witnesses will have already been dismissed and only you and your peer advisor will be present. The presiding justice will tell you whether the Council has found you not responsible or responsible and what your sanction is. Either way you will be reminded that if you are harassed in any way as a result of your participation in the hearing you should notify the Honor System immediately.

Appealing the Decision

If you are found responsible for an Honor Code violation, you may choose to appeal the decision of the Honor Council. Please refer to the "Appeal Process" section of the Honor System web pages for grounds for an appeal. You may talk with either the Honor Council faculty advisor or the Chief Justice about the desire to appeal, but the bottom line is that it must be submitted in writing to the Dean of the undergraduate college/school in which you are enrolled within four school days following written notice of the Honor Council's decisions.

If you fail to comply with the sanctions imposed by the Council, you will face additional sanctions.

After Your Hearing

If you were found responsible for an Honor Code violation, you will be notified in writing of the Council's decision. This decision will be added to your file, which will be kept, along with the audio recording of your hearing, until after you graduate. If you were found not responsible for an Honor Code violation, you will also be notified in writing.

Information for the Witness

If you have reported a suspicion of an Honor Code violation, you already understand why you are going to be needed to testify as a witness. Your role will be key to the success of the hearing. If you were notified by an Honor Council justice that you are to be a witness, it is likely that you were either present during the time of the alleged Honor Code violation, or that the student charged with the violation has asked you to testify on his or her behalf. In any case you will be contacted if you have not already been, by the justice who is acting as investigator of this particular case.

Your responsibilities are to cooperate with the investigator, to tell the complete truth when questioned about the incident, and to appear at the hearing promptly at the designated time. If you are harassed as a result of your participation with the hearing, notify a member of the Honor System immediately.

A full description of the "Rights and Responsibilities of Witnesses" is provided in the Honor System web pages.

Contact Us:  HonorCouncil@Student.Mercer.edu