I. THE RIGHT TO STUDY
Admission standards should be stated as clearly as possible and should in general be based on the capacity of individual students to contribute to or profit from the particular educational program. Under no circumstances should a student be barred from admission on the basis of race, sex or ethnic backgrounds. The facilities and services of an institution should be open to all of its students. It is also the responsibility of all students to refrain from any conduct which could obstruct fellow students in their enjoyment of benefits of institutional programs.
II. RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO STANDARDS OF CONDUCT
For the purpose of advancing its educational program and protecting its facilities and internal relationships, a university has the responsibility for promoting student conduct which is consistent with the educational program. Counseling and guidance should be preferred means for expressing this concern, but institutions have the duty and power to impose discipline for these purposes. Depending on the severity of an offense, disciplinary sanctions may include admonition, community service, censure, probation, restitution, fines, suspension, or expulsion. Generally, such actions should not be imposed for violations of written standards of conduct unless the standards are publicized in advance through such means as a student handbook. The discipline system of the institution should not be used merely to duplicate the function of general laws. Only when the institution's interests as an academic community are clearly involved should the special authority of the institution be asserted. If a student violates an institutional regulation in the course of his off-campus activity (such as a regulation pertaining to class attendance) he should not receive a more severe punishment than would normally be imposed for a violation of that regulation. Institutional action should be independent of community pressure.
III. THE RIGHT TO SHARE IN POLICY-MAKING
Students have a collective right to an appropriate voice in making of institutional policy generally affecting their social or academic affairs, but this right is subject to the supervening responsibility of the Board of Regents and the presidents of each of the institutions to assure adequate protection for essential interests and policies of each institution. This collective right should be recognized by the inclusions of student representation with full voting privileges on all standard institutional boards and committees relating to academic and student affairs such as those which deal with curriculum, faculty evaluations, library services, student activities (and the allocation of student activity funds), intercollegiate and intramural athletics, student housing, health and food services, student publications, and traffic and public safety. To the extent that students are foreclosed from sharing in the making of particular decisions, or kinds of decisions, the institutional policy or interests deemed to require the foreclosure should be explicitly stated, where possible, with approval of the Board of Regents and the President of the institution. Students should share in the formulation of standards of student conduct.
IV. THE RIGHT TO SPEAK
Every aspect of the educational process should promote the free expression of ideas. The right of express extends to matters of institutional administration and policy. Students have the right to publish written material, and to distribute it without prior approval. Distribution should not disrupt or unreasonably burden the operations of the institution. Should the institution support a written publication, other than professional or faculty publication, at least part of it should be available) for student journalism free of prior censorship or institutional control of editorial policy, except that student journalists editing an institutionally supported publications (or broadcasting on an institutional installation if available may be subject to removal from office, as well as other punishment, for breach of reasonable standards of journalism, such as reasonable proscriptions against libel, intentional distortion, or reckless disregard for the facts. Students have the right to a well-defined process of academic evaluation. The institution and its teachers should assure that academic evaluations are not prejudiced or capricious and such as may deter students from expressing views contrary to those of the person making the evaluation. Students should be protected from public disclosure of views or beliefs which may have been tentatively expressed in academic discourse. Students are responsible for respecting the equal right of all their members of the academic community. For student journalists editing an institutionally supported publication, this responsibility extends to an obligation to provide reasonable opportunity for the expression of views by fellow students differing for editorial policy. Students are also responsible for respecting the personal rights of other students and of teachers and administrators by avoiding the utterance of willful or malicious defamatory statements or other incivilities so grave as to impair the ability of students or educators to perform their duties effectively. The institution reserves the right to place reasonable time, manner, and place limitations on all forms of expression.
V. THE RIGHT TO ASSOCIATION
Students should be free to organize and join associations to promote their common interest and to make reasonable use of institutional facilities for such purposes. This right should be limited by a requirement of institutional recognition only insofar as necessary to preserve the openness of the institution and its receptivity to free inquiry. Thus, it may be appropriate for an institution withhold the use of its facilities from associations which impinge on the rights of others by obstructing their study or self-expression or otherwise subjecting them to harassment. Extramural affiliation should not be proscribed, but reasonable provisions for local autonomy may be required. If campus advisors are required, each organization should be agreed to choose its own advisor, and institutional recognition should not be withheld or withdrawn solely because of the inability of a student organization to secure an advisor. Campus advisors may advise organizations in the exercise of responsibility, but they should not have the authority to control the policy of such organizations. Student organizations should avoid representing that their action reflects the views of the university. An organization may properly be required to identify officers handling student funds or to designate a person to receive institutional communications.
VI. THE RIGHT TO LISTEN
Students should be allowed to invite and to hear any person of their own choosing for the purpose of hearing his ideas and opinions. Those routine procedures required by an institution before a guest speaker is invited to appear on campus should be designed only to insure that there is orderly scheduling of facilities and adequate preparation for the event. A guest speaker should be allowed on campus only upon invitation from a recognized student or faculty organization. A speaker may only be banned if the president of the institution, the Board of Regents, or an authorized designee thereof, after proper inquiry, determines that the proposed speech will constitute a clear and present danger to the orderly operations or lawful mission of the institution. Such a clear and present danger will exist if the proposed speech will prepare the addressed group for imminent action such as the violent overthrow of the government of the United States, the State of Georgia, or any political subdivision thereof or the willful damage or destruction, or seizure and subversion of the building or property of the institution; or the forcible disruption or impairment of or interference with regularly scheduled classes or other educational functions; or the physical harm, coercion, intimidation, or other invasion of lawful right of any member of the campus community; or any campus disorder of a violent nature. Charges may be imposed for any unusual cost. The institutional control of campus facilities should not be used as a device of censorship. Correspondingly, students should be constrained from disrupting a meeting of their fellows or others lawfully using the university's premises. It is not sufficient reason for suppressing the peaceful expression of ideas that they are so outrageous to others that there is a risk of misconduct by those offended. The students' right of self-expression does not extend to protest noise intended to prevent self-expression by others. Students should be held to account for the defamatory statements of their invited speakers only if they might reasonable have anticipated and prevented the defamation.
VII. THE RIGHT TO PRIVATE QUARTERS
An institution has an obligation to respect the right of all students living or working on its premises to privacy in their living and working terms. This obligation must be observed by establishing appropriate procedural safeguards on such institutional activity as may be necessary to the fulfillment of the institution's cognate obligation to protect the health and safety of all persons resident and working on its premises. Intrusions by police or other officials exercising responsibility for the enforcement of civil law (penal or otherwise) should be governed by standards and procedures no less stringent than those applicable to intrusions on private quarters outside the institution.
VIII. THE RIGHT TO PRIVATE RECORDS
To minimize the risk of improper disclosure, academic records should be kept separate from disciplinary records. The conditions of access to each should be set forth in an explicit policy statement. Transcripts of academic records should contain only information about academic status. Information from disciplinary or counseling files should not be available to unauthorized persons within the institution or to any person outside the institution without the express consent of the student involved except when required by law or judicial process or in cases where safety of persons or property is involved. No records should be kept which reflect the political activities or beliefs of students. Special provision should be made to prevent misuse of old disciplinary records of former students. A student should have access to his records. Administrative staff and faculty members should respect confidential information about students which they acquire in the course of their work. Students are likewise bound to respect the confidentiality of the files and records of faculty and administrators.
IX. THE RIGHT TO PROCEDURAL FAIRNESS
The administration of discipline should guarantee procedural fairness to an accused student. Procedure may vary in formality with the gravity of the offense and the sanctions which may be applied; it may also be varied to take account of an honor code which imposes responsibility on students to enforce standards of conduct against one another. The jurisdiction of judicial bodies, the disciplinary responsibilities of the institutional officials, and the disciplinary procedures should be clearly formulated and published. Minor penalties may be assessed informally under such procedures, but in all situations, the student should be informed of the nature of the charges against him, be given a fair opportunity to refute them, and provided with some avenue for appeal for arbitrary official action. In the course of investigations, a student should be told that he need not discuss his own alleged misconduct while criminal proceedings arising from the same event are pending. Information obtained from a student in the course of any institutional investigation or hearing should not be volunteered for use in criminal proceedings against him except when required by law or judicial process. Before a serious penalty such as substantial fine, extended suspension, or expulsion is imposed, the student should be advised of his right to a fair hearing to determine his responsibility.
X. STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY
In addition to the specific responsibilities arising in connection with these rights, students bear a general responsibility to support the institution's effort to maintain a spirit of free inquiry and respect for the rights of others. This responsibility arises from the fact that students are the present beneficiaries of that traditional spirit, and are best positioned to preserve, improve, and transmit it to future generations. This responsibility imposes a duty on students not only to refrain from conduct which obstruct such efforts of the institution, but also to support enforcement of civil laws where such enforcement is reasonable deemed by responsible officials to be necessary to the continued operations of the institution.
