Student Responsibilities

Student Right

General Student Grivance

Students having a grievance with the general operation of the College may petition the Grievance Committee for redress. The petition shall set forth in detail the nature of the grievance and shall state for whom the grievance is directed. It shall contain factual data, which the petitioners deem pertinent to their case. The Committee shall have the right to decide whether or not the petition merits investigation. Petitions must be submitted to the Dean of Student Services, who will appoint a Grievance Committee, and supervise the grievance process.

Academic Grievaces

Before an academic grievance is filed, the student must first discuss and seek to resolve the issue with the instructor of the course and the appropriate Department Chairperson. If the matter cannot be resolved, the procedures outlined below should be followed:

A letter describing the nature of the complaint and all supporting documents should be submitted to the Dean of Student Services, Dean of Academic Affairs and/or Academic Deans when appropriate. These documents may be the course syllabus outline, evaluation procedures, exams with grades, term paper assignments with grades, quizzes or other pertinent supporting documents.

The Dean of Student Services will call a meeting of all available parties involved (instructor, Department Chairperson, Dean of Student Services, Dean of Academic Dean and/or Academic Deans when appropriate) to review the submitted documents and find a possible solution.

If the matter remains unsolved, the Dean of Student Services will refer the submitted written grievance to the Grievance Committee (Dean of Student Services, Dean of Academic Affairs and/or Academic Deans when appropriate, one administrator, one counselor, one faculty member and a student representative) for appropriate action and to schedule a hearing.
The Grievance Committee will notify the student in writing within three (3) working days of the hearing outcome. All recommendations made by the Grievance Committee are final.

Board of Retention and Dismissal

Members of the Board will include the Dean of Student Services, Dean of Academic Affairs and/or Academic Deans when appropriate, one counselor, one faculty representative, and the SGA President or designee. The student has a right to present his/her case in person before the Board, and will be notified in writing of the Board’s decision. Documentation of the Board’s action becomes part of the student’s permanent file. Students are not permitted to attend class while the case is pending.

Responsibilities of the Board of Retention and Dismissal are:

To study the case being considered for disciplinary action that may result in a student’s dismissal from the College.
To decide the nature and gravity of the student’s offense relative to the rest of the student body, the overall function and purpose of the College, the student’s academic life, and College regulations as stated in the Student Handbook and the College Catalog.
To decide whether the student will be retained or dismissed and whether such dismissal shall be temporary or permanent.

Actions to be taken by the Board of Retention and Dismissal after hearing a case:

Warning - Notification to a student that the continuation or repetition of a specific violation may result in serious disciplinary action.
Probation - Formal action placing conditions on the student’s continued attendance in the College. Such notice will be given in writing and specify the period of probation and conditions.
Suspension - Suspended students will be placed on temporary dismissal from the College. Such notice will be given in writing, specifying the duration of the suspension and any specific conditions to be met before readmission into College.
Expulsion or Exclusion - Expulsion or exclusion is the indefinite or permanent dismissal from ASCC and termination of student status. The Board of Retention and Dismissal will take the final action on such cases, with overall supervision from the Dean of Student Services, No refund of tuition and/or fees is granted for expulsion or exclusion cases.

The student may appeal decisions made by the Board of Retention and Dismissal to the ASCC President.

Student Appeals

Students may appeal a disciplinary action taken against them by submitting a written appeal to the Dean of Student Services, who will forward the request to an appointed ad-hoc Student – Faculty –Administration Appeal Board. The written appeal must be submitted within one week from the issuance of t he disciplinary action/decision in question. The disciplinary action shall stand during the Appeal Board’s deliberations on the submitted appeal. The Ad-Hoc Board’s decision and/or recommendation are final.

Students are responsible for all information contained in our catalog , and familiarizing themselves with and adhering to the standards involved with the policies and regulations governing campus conduct (see Student Handbook ). It is also the responsibility of all students to contact appropriate college personnel to clarify any point in question. In no case will a regulation be waived or an exception be granted because a student pleads ignorance of, or contends that he/she was not informed of, the regulations or procedures.

The academic community, by its very nature, places emphasis on individual responsibilities. The college campus should be a place conducive to learning and the free exchange of ideas. ASCC students are expected to show respect for the rights of others, preserve a social and academic atmosphere, promote the College’s goals, care for campus property, and bring goodwill and honesty to the College.

Students interfering with the personal rights or privileges of others, or the educational process of the college will be subject to immediate disciplinary action. Acts specifically prohibited include possession, use or sale of alcohol, narcotics or illicit drugs on campus or at college functions, destruction of ASCC property, vulgarity, stealing, continued willful disobedience, cheating, plagiarizing, forgery, graffiti, vandalism and all other dishonest practices.

Zero Tolerance Policy

As with any community educational environment, certain policies are established to ensure the health and safety of all the students and employees of the institution.

ASCC defines zero tolerance as: the strict application of consequences regarding violation of ASCC’s rules on weapons, explosives, fighting, bullying and intimidation, drugs, or alcohol. If a student is found to have violated any of the aforementioned rules, then the consequences shall be applied without exception.

Fighting

Students shall be prohibited from the following actions while on school property:

Purposely or knowingly causing serious physical injury to another person
Attempting to kill or cause serious physical injury to another person
Recklessly engaging in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person and thereby causing serious physical injury to another person
Knowingly causing or attempting to cause physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument
Recklessly causing serious physical injury to another person
Attempting to cause physical injury
With criminal negligence, causing physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon
Purposely placing another person in apprehension of immediate physical injury
Knowingly causing physical contact with another person knowing the other person will regard the contact as offensive or provocative
Fighting or violent, tumultuous, or threatening behavior

Fighting on campus shall result in suspension or permanent expulsion from ASCC in accordance to the severity of the action.

Bullying and Intimidation

Bullying includes any intentional electronic, written, verbal, or physical act, or a series of acts, directed at another person or group of people, that is severe, persistent, or pervasive and that has the effect of doing any of the following:

Substantially interfering with a student’s education
Creating a threatening environment
Substantially disrupting the orderly operation of the school. Bullying is prohibited and participating in such acts will result in disciplinary action.

Verbal, written, or electronic threats of violence or other threatening behavior directed toward another person or group that reasonably leads the person(s) to fear for her/his physical well-being constitutes intimidation, is prohibited, and will result in disciplinary action.

Drugs

ASCC strictly prohibits the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensation, possession or use of non-prescribed drugs or use of illegal drugs or controlled substances. Students who violate this prohibition are subject to disciplinary action including suspension or expulsion in accordance to the severity of the offense.

Alcohol

ASCC is a designated alcohol-free campus. Students attending ASCC must abide by the policy that alcohol is not permitted regardless of students’ age. Illegal acts commonly associated with alcohol include public intoxication, driving while intoxicated, provision of alcohol to a minor, bringing alcoholic beverages onto the college campus and minors having possession of alcohol. Violation of these laws subjects students to disciplinary actions.

ASCC reserves the right to disclose to a parent or legal guardian of a student, information regarding any violation of any Federal, State, or local law, or of any rule or policy of the institution, governing the use or possession of alcohol or a controlled substance, regardless of whether that information is contained in the student’s records, if a student is under the age of 21 and the institution determines that the student has committed a disciplinary violation with respect to such use or possession.

Weapons

Students are prohibited from possessing weapons on school property. A person commits a crime if he/she knowingly possesses, manufactures, transports, repairs, or sells an explosive weapon, a machine gun, a gas gun, a short barreled rifle or shot gun, a firearm silencer, any knife, bush knife or machete, and/or knuckles.

Also, students shall not possess toy guns, knives, or other replicas of any of the weapons mentioned above on the school property at any time. College students who violate this prohibition are subject to suspension and expulsion.

Violating the College Drug Policy, Rules and Regulations may cause a student to lose their eligibility for financial aid. According to 20 United States Code 1091(r), a student who has been convicted of a drug offense shall not be eligible to receive any grant, loan, or work assistance.

The Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act Amendments of 1989, Public Law 101-226, require that, as a condition of receiving funds or any other form of financial assistance under any Federal program, an institution of higher education (IHE), State Educational Agency (SEA), or Local Education Agency (LEA) must certify that it has adopted and implemented a program to prevent the unlawful possession, use, or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol by students and employees.

In addition to disciplinary sanctions imposed by the College for violation of weapons, fighting, bullying and intimidation, drugs and alcohol, students may also be prosecuted under Territorial and Federal Laws.

Academic Honesty and Integrity

ASCC prohibits the following actions:

Plagiarism, the submitting of one person’s written ideas or thoughts as one’s own without giving proper citation or credit to the original author
Cheating that includes, but is not limited to, unauthorized sharing of information on any exam with others before the end of all final exams
The abuse of library or other institutional materials, misuse of library privileges and unlawful duplication and/or distribution of copyrighted materials
Knowingly furnishing false information to the college with the intent to deceive or fraud
Forgery, alteration or misuse of documents, records, or identification
The attempted or actual theft or damage of college property

Students caught will be reported to the Dean of Student Services to be disciplined and/or counseled which may result in probation, suspension or expulsion in accordance to the severity of the action.