Acadia Students’ union /
Student Bill of Rights and Responsibilities /
Acadia University /
Acadia Students’ Union /
1/1/2014 /
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 2
PREAMBLE3
FUNdamental Rights and Responsibilities4
ACADEMIC RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES5
Applying to university5
Academic policy and regulations5
Dismissal and probation6
Information about students6
Appeals6
harassment and Discrimination8
Appeals9
non-academic judicial proceDures10
Filing a charge10
Appealing a charge10
Participation in the life of the university12
Alcohol and drug use12
Residents of Acadia University13
Responsibility to act13
Residents of Wolfville13
Introduction
By registering at Acadia University, every student agrees to become a member of the university community. As a member of this community, each student should expect certain rights as a standard of Acadia University. In the same way, Acadia University and members of the community should expect responsible behaviour from each student. All members of the Acadia community must work together to support the community to ensure the best quality of university life and education.
The mission of Acadia University is:
To provide a personalized and rigorous liberal education; promote a robust and respectful scholarly community; and inspire a diversity of students to become critical thinkers, lifelong learners, engaged citizens, and responsible global leaders.[1]
The mission of Acadia Students’ Union is:
The Acadia Students’ Union is a student-governed organization dedicated to serving its members through effective representation and communications. The Students’ Union offers innovative and quality services while providing a variety of opportunities that enhance the overall university experience of the students of Acadia.
Acadia Students’ Union believes in and upholds the values of integrity, excellence, and respect, while recognizing the importance of fun, community spirit, and the tradition upon which the Union was founded.
The Acadia Students’ Union constitution can be found at:
Preamble
Acadia University is an institution that believes that all students are equal in terms of their fundamental rights and responsibilities and the policies and practices of the University reflect this belief. It is the expectation of students to be treated fairly and with respect by all members of the university and in return students are expected to make themselves aware of their responsibilities as members of the university community.
This Bill of Rights and Responsibilities was created by the Acadia Students’ Union for the purpose of having a summation document of university regulations that is easily accessible by all Acadia University community members. This document serves the purpose of providing support to students.
This document includes information from several other documents on campus. By no means is this document an extensive review of all those documents. Please refer to those documents if there are any questions or concerns not relayed in this document.
This document would not have been possible without the contributions of students, faculty, administration, and community members. The Academic Affairs Committee must also be thanked for their contribution to this project.
Fundamental Rights and Responsibilities
1. Every student enjoys, within the University, the rights and freedoms recognized by all federal, provincial, and municipal laws.
2. Every student has the right to have a University experience free of discrimination and harassment.
3.Every student has the right to, within the University, freedom of expression, opinion, belief and political association, as long as these freedoms do not interfere with the rights of others, or violate other University policies and procedures.
4. Every student has the right to a due, fair, and clear process by university officials acting in their administrative capacity.
5. Every student has the responsibility to be familiar with the contents of the academic calendar and to meet curricular and non-curricular requirements.
6.Every student has the right of privacy protection consistent with University policy and existing legislation on privacy.
7. Every academically qualified student has the right to be admitted to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded to students at the University.
8. Every student is responsible for contributing to a safe, respectful, and inclusive community that encourages academic pursuits.
9.All students have the right to information. They also have the right to an accurate and comprehensive counsel about policies and regulations of the university that cause concern or that are related to their area of study.
10. All students have the right to be valued for their contribution to the university community as a whole.
11. All students have the right to expect clearly stated requirements for their program. Students have the responsibility to know the requirements for their program.
12. All students have the right to appeal decisions made by the faculty.
13. Every student has the right to be represented as well as to participate in University Governance.
14. All students have the responsibility to maintain academic integrity.
Academic Rights and Responsibilities
All academic rights and responsibilities can be found in the Academic Calendar, which can be found at:
Applying to University
When applying to the institution, all documents must be submitted electronically or in the prescribed application form; these must be submitted with all official copies from all high schools attended or from other academic institutions. These documents must be submitted along with the requisite application fee. If you are a student who has attended another post-secondary institution, you must have your transcript sent for evaluation. Certain programs, such as music or education, may require additional methods of assessment. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that all documents related to the application are submitted. For further information about the application process, see page 8 and 9 of the Acadia Academic Calendar.
Academic Policy and Regulations
All students have the right at the beginning of the semester to receive an indication in writing from their professor of the workload for the course, the required elements for completion of the course, as well as tentative dates and values of each element. Students must complete all requirements for the course to receive credit and all term papers are due to instructors no later than the last scheduled class.All students have the right to be judged fairly and responsibly.
All students have the right to any course (aside from courses with pre-requisites and restrictions) in the Academic Calendar. Students have the responsibility to check the Academic Calendar for available courses, as the Academic Calendar may not have a course that is listed available in a given year.
Students have the responsibility to use the work of other scholars sensibly. Students have the responsibility to not engage in academic dishonesty, such as cheating and plagiarism. All penalties are imposed in relation to the degree of the violation. See page 35 of the Academic Calendar for a full description of Academic Dishonesty.
Tests cannot be scheduled by professors in the last ten days of classes, except for routine week-end or end of chapter tests, lab tests, and oral exams for language courses. Tests also cannot be scheduled in the study days prior to either fall or winter term examination periods. All students have the right to see their grades at any given time.
Students have the right to request a re-read of their examination (or the equivalent in a course using an alternative form of assessment). However, these requests will cost the student $10 and only will be refunded if the mark of the examination is raised. See page 32 in the Academic Policy and Regulations section of the Academic Calendar for a full explanation of re-read procedures.Procedures concerning infractions of academic integrity can be found on page 35 of the Academic Calendar.
Dismissal and Probation
Students who are registered in more than 15 credit hours and who receive a grade point average of more than 1.0, but less than 1.5, will be placed on probation, unless this student has already incurred probation. These students are eligible to re-register.
Students placed on probation and registered in more than 15 hours of classes and who receive a grade point average of less than 1.5 will be placed on dismissal.
At the end of the period of academic dismissal, students have the right to apply for re-admission and if accepted will be on probation.
Please see page 34 of the Academic Calendar for more information about Dismissal and Probation.
Information about Students
Students have the right to inspect their academic record, except for evaluation or opinion information solely collected for the purpose of admission to an academic program. Students have the right to challenge contents that they believe to be incorrect. Students have the right to receive transcripts of their own academic record, with a submission of a signed request and payment of the current fee. Information about students may be disclosed to university officials or committees with deemed legitimate educational interest without student consent.
Appeals
If a student wants to appeal a decision made by a member of faculty or by an administrator, they should first try to resolve the matter with the person at hand. If the problem cannot be resolved in this way, the student should then appeal the decision to the Head or Director of the Department or School. This person will conduct an investigation and attempt to resolve the matter. If the problem still cannot be resolved, the student can then appeal to the appropriate Dean of Faculty. If the problem needs to beappealed further, the student can appeal to the Vice President Academic of the University. If the student still is not satisfied with the decision, they can appeal to the Academic Appeals Committee of the Senate of Acadia. At any point in time, students can consult with the Vice President Academic of the Acadia Students’ Union for aid with the situation.
For more information about Academic Appeals, please refer to page 35 of the Academic Calendar.
All students have the responsibility to read and understand the Academic Calendar of the current year.
For any questions or concerns, students can email the Office of the Registrar. Contact information can be found at:
Harassment and Discrimination
All harassment and discrimination rights and responsibilities is contained in the Harassment and Discrimination policy, which can be found at:
From Acadia University’s Harassment and Discrimination Policy:
“The University … does not condone discrimination, sexual harassment, or personal harassment. Indeed, the University regards discrimination, sexual harassment and personal harassment as serious offenses that are subject to a wide range of disciplinary measures, including dismissal or expulsion from the University.”
From the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act
“The Nova Scotia Human Rights Act defines discrimination for the purposes of the Act as follows:
A person discriminates where the person makes a distinction, whether intentional or not, based on a characteristic, or perceived characteristic… that has the effect of imposing burdens, obligations, or disadvantages on an individual or a class of individuals not imposed upon others or which withholds or limits access to opportunities, benefits, and advantages available to other individuals or classes of individuals in society.”
All members of the Acadia University campus can seek, anonymously, the advice and assistance of the Equity Officer. Complainants are encouraged to report their concerns to the Equity Officer as soon as possible after the alleged conduct. Only complaints made within one year of the actual incident are processed through the formal complaint procedure.
Complainants under the harassment and discrimination policy can be resolved by using any or all of these three procedures: (a) informal resolution, (b) mediation, and (c) formal complaint. The complainant has the right to be advised by the Equity Officer in choice of the most appropriate option.
Regardless of the outcome of the case, the complainant or the respondent has the right to ask for actions to be taken to correct damage done to his or her career development, academic record, physical or emotional health, reputation, or finances.
Appeals
Any complainant who disagrees with the Equity Officer’s decision in the procedure has the right to ask for an appeal, which will be conducted in accordance with the University Judicial Policy. (See page 9 for further information about the University Non-Academic Judicial Policy). All appeals must be submitted in writing to the chair of the Appeals Committee within ten working days of receiving the final report from the Senior Administrative Officer.
The complainant and respondent are entitled to consult with the Equity Officer in terms of dealing with the process and procedures under the Harassment and Discrimination Policy.All members of the proceedings have the responsibility to maintainconfidentiality.
For any questions or concerns, students can email the Equity Officer of the university. Contact information can be found at:
Non-Academic Judicial Procedures
All non-academic judicial procedures can be found in the Non-Academic Judicial Handbook, located:
There may be a point in a student’s academic tenure at Acadia when they violate rules, regulations, or guidelines at the University. The Non-Academic Judicial Handbook states that “discipline is used with the goal of re-educating, to help a person understand that further infractions are unnecessary.” This is the basis for the non-academic judicial system at Acadia.
Filing a Charge
If a student wants to file a non-academic charge, they have the following rights and responsibilities:
Any member or agency of the Acadia University community may lodge a complaint as stated in the Non-Academic Judicial Handbook.
Students have the right to be free of any harassment, which can be either direct or indirect. This can result in them charging another individual with an offense. Students have the right to present their interpretation of the matter and question the accused and his or her witness(es) at a hearing. Furthermore, students have the right to appeal subject to the limitations and processes of the appeals process, which can be found in the Non-Academic Judicial Handbook. Students are required to respect and comply with all of Acadia University’s judicial policies and procedures, as described in the handbook. Students are also required to make the appropriate preparations for the presentation of their case at the judicial hearing. Students are further required to abide by any disciplinary decision made by the Judicial Board, the University Disciplinary Appeals Committee, or an administrative officer of Acadia University, or Acadia Students’ Union.
Students will have the right to a Judicial Advisor, who can aid with the case.
Appealing a Charge
If a student has been charged with a non-academic offense, they have the following responsibilities:
It is the responsibility of the Senior Director of Student Affairs to inform both the accused and the complainant in writing of the right to appeal and to refer both parties to the information below.
All students are presumed innocent unless the student agrees that he or she is guilty and is found guilty through judicial process. The accused student has the right to know the details of the complaint being made against him or her. Furthermore, the accused has the right to question their accuser and witness(es) at a hearing, where the accused has the right to present his or herinterpretation of the matter. The accused also has the right to an appeal, subject to the limitations and process described in the Non-Academic Judicial Handbook. Students have the right to settle the matter at hand with the coordinator, Student Community Development, who is responsible for pre-hearing settlements without having the student’s case presented in a formal judicial hearing. Students are responsible for complying and respecting Acadia University’s policies and procedures as described in the Non-Academic Judicial Handbook. An accused student is required to make appropriate preparations for the presentation of his or her case at a judicial hearing and is required to abide by any disciplinary decisions made by the Judicial Board, the University Disciplinary Appeals Committee, or administrative officers of the University or Acadia Students’ Union. Finally, the student is required to respect and comply with any temporary restrictions placed on the student between the time a complaint is made and the time the case is resolved.
Student will have the right to a Judicial Advisor, who can aid with the case.
Participation in the Life of the University
Students have the right to the use of University areas and facilities, but have the responsibility to respect building hours and limits within facilities.Students have the responsibility to treat University areas and facilities with respect and to adhere to building policies and procedures.
Students have the right to be represented by fellow students on committees, boards, and councils at the University. Some examples of these committees or councils are the University Senate, Board of Governors, Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee, several committees pertaining to Residence Life, Academic Judicial Process Committee, and the Non-Academic Judicial Process Committee.
Students have the right to equal opportunity when applying for student employment positions that become available on campus for which they are qualified. Students have the right to fair and equal treatment regarding hiring procedures.
All students have the right to enjoy freedom of belief and opinion, as well as peaceful assembly, provided these are exercised in a respectful and civil approach. Included is the right for groups to engage in lawful demonstrations and debate any matter.
Alcohol, Drug Use, and Smoking
The goal of the policy is“to ensure that the health and safety of all members of the Acadia University community; students, faculty, staff, and other campus guests is our priority.” The document outlines terms that create an environment for those who are of legal age to drink responsibly and safely, and for those who choose not to drink do so without penalty or pressure. The policy outlines drug use in Residences at Acadia University as well.