The Ohio University Student Code of Conduct remains online and will not be distributed in a printed form, but an enhanced version of it is in the works.
Our experience is that students prefer to go online to get things
said OU Provost Kathy Krendl.
The Student Code of Conduct sets forth community expectations for OU students and student organizations as well as those behaviors, occurring both on or off campus, that are considered unacceptable conduct for students, according to the Student Code of Conduct policy section at www.ohio.edu/judiciaries.
The decision to stop handing out a hard copy of the code was because of evaluations that showed few students read it, and many discarded it, combined with cost saving measures, said Dean of Students Terry Hogan.
Students were getting so many printed things at Precollege that they just threw it away Hogan said.
Distribution of the Student Code of Conduct ceased about three years ago, said Precollege director Rick Linn. Precollege advisers still distribute course catalogs, class schedules and the OU Experience an academic guide with health forms and alcohol.edu information, in addition to other information on specific programs students might choose to take home, Linn said.
Linn said he had mixed feelings on the decision to halt the distribution of the code to freshmen, adding that student access to information was the critical issue.
If somebody calls you up on Thursday night
and you are deciding whether or not to go out
are you going to pull out your Code of Conduct before you go to Mill Street? Probably not. Having it doesn't necessarily make a difference; I think whether it is actually addressed does.
An E-Student Handbook is being created and would include policies and procedures as a one-step stop for everything and provide easier access and more visibility for students to the Code of Conduct, Krendl said.
The university also plans to require faculty to provide more academic information in their class syllabus and to provide more communication opportunities during Precollege about university rules and regulations, Krendl said.
I think there will be greater visibility around issues related to student policy
she said.
It would be helpful if there was a printed version (of the Code of Conduct) when you first came to OU
said John Jenkins, junior sociology major. However
from my personal experience
students are going to disobey (university rules) regardless.
Students are more likely to look at the code online, said J. Malcolm Smith, interim director of University Judiciaries.
The student is known to be more digital
online more
using electronics more so than books
