The Campus Conduct Committee has been formed and will continue to meet for the remainder of the year every other week to review the student conduct process, Director of Student Rights and Community Standards Dean Gendron, who is serving as the co-chairperson of the committee, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.According to Gendron, "[Dean of Student Life Rick] Sawyer charged us with an introspective review of the student conduct process in order to certify that the provisions, largely unamended for more than two decades, continue to appropriately represent the needs of Brandeis' undergraduate and graduate students."

The committee meets every other Tuesday from 3 to 5 p.m. and has planned meetings through April. Gendron noted that there is no rush to complete the review process and that he hopes to be thorough and listen to as many constituents as possible before the year's end.

In the Sept. 1 issue of the Justice, Sawyer recognized that the student conduct process had not been reviewed for more than 25 years and that it would be "professionally and community-wise, remiss not to review it periodically." The student conduct process involves the steps that are taken in the event that a student violates the rules in the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook and the disciplinary action that occurs to mediate the problem.

Student Union President Andy Hogan '11 said that while he does not personally sit on the committee, he was invited to do so.

"The goals, as far as I know, are really to . come up with an easier process for everyone: for the administration, for students, for everyone involved to come up with a process that really works for what Brandeis needs it to do," Hogan said.

The Committee is comprised of students, staff and faculty. Any student can become a member of the Committee. Any interested student should get in touch with Gendron or Director of Community Living for Juniors and Seniors Erika Lamarre, who is also a co-chairperson of the Committee.

Gendron wrote, "We have begun to identify and populate subcommittees whose topics include Sections 18-23 of Rights and Responsibilities, which are the sections that describe the University's student conduct process." Hogan said that the Union does its best to have a member of the Office of Student Rights and Advocacy on each of the subcommittees to represent students' interests.

Specific topics of subcommittees include hearings, sanctions, the University Board on Student Conduct and mediated resolution processes. Gendron said, "As the committee hears reports from its subsets, we believe we'll steer our momentum toward new questions and findings that will produce recommendations to forge a conduct system relevant for 2010 and beyond." The subcommitees will look into specific aspects of the disciplinary process that need further investigation to report back to the larger committee.

Hogan did not mention specific goals that the Union has for the committee, saying, "I really want the committee to . really look at the whole system and how we can improve anything and everything.