Student Conduct

Awareness is the first step to healthy decision making. The Dean of Students Office provides several opportunities for students to think critically about the impact they have on campus.

AlcoholEdu | This interactive online workshop allows students to better understand the choice to consume alcohol and its effects on their physical, emotional and social health. This is a required course for all incoming students. Invitations to access the course via email are sent in early August.

Bystander Training | The Dean of Students Office provides a number of bystander intervention opportunities in the areas of individual decision making, alcohol consumption and relationship violence. All first-year students attend mandatory bystander intervention and sexual assault awareness workshops as part of Welcome Week, but bystander training can be provided online or in person to any campus community member. Contact the Dean of Students Office for more information.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month | Every April, the Dean of Students Office hosts a variety of events related to sexual assault and relationship violence awareness. Check your April A-Mail for a lineup of events.

Accountability is key in order to learn from our mistakes. The Dean of Students Office relies on a variety of learning-centered sanctions to address most policy violations.

Educational sanctions are specifically designed to better equip students to make positive decisions in similar future circumstances.

Some policy violations require a level of response where an educational sanction is assigned in conjunction to a disciplinary sanction in order to effectively restore justice to an individual or community. The Dean of Students Office makes every effort to ensure the equity in achievement of sanction completion, prohibits the practice of sanctioning, which promotes further harm, and welcomes a cooperative dialogue with students involved in any part of our process. For more information, please review the Student Handbook, Section VI, titled “Student Conduct Process."

Community is our greatest asset at Augustana. We understand the traditional American judicial process has been systemically inequitable for certain populations. Restorative justice is rooted in alternative conflict resolution practices used by indigenous populations and allows participants to address issues by listening, understanding, compassion and collaboration. The Dean of Students Office supports the growth and healing of the university community through restorative practices when applicable. This is done by:

• Shifting the focus of a policy violation from “rule broken” to “harm caused.”
• Promoting accountability for intended and unintended harm to the campus community.
• Empowering victims to vocalize their needs for healing.
• Maintaining the dignity of the alleged so they can be an active part of community restoration.