Inquiry and Expression: Freedom of inquiry and expression is integral to the definition of a university. As an academic community, the University is devoted to the objective, reasoned, and fair study of all issues and questions. There are times when the study of certain questions will be the subject of disagreement and controversy. While free to voice their objections and to protest, students shall be responsible for helping to maintain an atmosphere in which objective and rational study can continue.
1. Students and student organizations shall be free to examine and discuss all questions of interest to them and to express opinions publicly and privately by demonstrations or in other ways, conducted in an orderly and non-obstructive manner. Students should be free, and no special permission should be required, to distribute pamphlets or collect names for petitions and solicit support.
2. Students shall be allowed to invite and to hear any person of their own choosing. Those routine procedures required by the University before a guest speaker is invited to appear on campus shall be designed to ensure that there is orderly scheduling of facilities and adequate preparation for the event, including the financial requirements, and that the occasion is conducted in a manner appropriate to an academic community.
3. Students have the responsibility to make clear to the academic and larger community that sponsorship of guest speakers does not necessarily imply approval or endorsement of the views expressed by either the sponsoring group or the institution. All publicity shall clearly indicate that the views expressed or to be expressed are those of the guest speaker and are not necessarily those of Drew University.
4. No publicity may be released to the public, press, radio, or television except through the Office of Communications.
5. No student may enter into or sign a contract in the name of Drew University (or for any group within the University) without first seeking approval (and the signature) of the Director of Student Activities and/or
his/her designee.
Groups not recognized by the University must follow the guidelines of the Housing, Conferences and Hospitality Office.
Student Participation in Institutional Government
1. As constituents of the academic community, students shall be free individually and collectively to express their views on issues of institutional policy and on matters of general interest to the student body. Students should participate in the formulation and application of institutional policy affecting academic and student affairs.
The participation of the student body “in the formulation and application of institutional policy affecting academic and student affairs” may involve a variety of activities ranging from student discussion of proposed policy in committees and in organized agencies of student government or through the student press, to the more formal determination of policy by groups that include student members or, where and if delegated by appropriate authority, by groups that are composed only of students. Such participation is a responsibility as well as a right. Through such participation, students share in the responsibility of responding to the needs and wishes of all members of the academic community.
2. Student associations may be organized to act as the central deliberative body of the students of each of the schools of the University and to exercise such legislative powers as are delegated by the respective faculties and the trustees. It is understood that the faculty and administration will consult with the student body or with individual students when requested, and when it is deemed appropriate will review proposed student legislation. The faculty, administration, and student associations retain the right of final review in matters pertaining to their respective jurisdictions.
3. Student Publications: Student publications and the student press are a valuable aid in establishing and maintaining an atmosphere of free and responsible discussion and of intellectual exploration on the campus. They are a means of bringing student concerns to the attention of the University community, authorities, and of formulating student opinion on various issues on the campus and in the world at large.
Exercise of Rights of Citizenship: Drew University students, as both citizens and members of the academic community, shall enjoy the same freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, right to privacy, and right of petition that other citizens enjoy and they are subject to the obligations that accrue to them by virtue of their membership.
Faculty members and administrative officials shall ensure that institutional powers are not employed to inhibit such intellectual and personal development of students as is often promoted by their exercise of the rights of citizenship both on and off campus.
Institutional Authority:
Students who violate the law may incur penalties prescribed by civil authorities. Drew University’s institutional authority shall never be used merely to duplicate the function of general laws. Only where the
interests of Drew University as an academic community are distinctly and clearly involved should the special authority of the institution be asserted according to regular student conduct procedures.
Disciplinary actions undertaken by Drew University will normally proceed during the pendency of any criminal proceedings, and the University’s disciplinary actions shall not be subject to challenge on the ground that a criminal allegation involving the same incident is pending, has been dismissed, or has been reduced. The status of a student shall not be altered, or the right to be present on the campus and to attend classes suspended, except when it is clear that a threat exists to the health, safety, or well-being of the campus community. Either the President or the Dean of Campus Life and Student Affairs (or designee) may, upon finding that such a threat exists, revoke a student’s right to be on campus or suspend a student from class for an interim period pending a prompt hearing pursuant to University disciplinary procedures.
Any such interim revocation or suspension shall become immediately effective upon the required finding being made without prior notice to the affected student. On application of the affected student, the University official (or designee) invoking the interim revocation or suspension shall, within ten (10) business days, meet with the suspended student to consider only the reliability of the information regarding the student’s conduct and whether the conduct and surrounding circumstances reasonably indicate that the presence of the student on campus or in class continues to threaten the health, safety, or well-being of the campus community.