A lot of attention is focused on NC State’s Student Government, with the majority going toward the Student Senate and the executive branch. What many NC State students don’t know is that Student Government actually has a third branch: the student Conduct Board. 

Landon McKinney, a junior studying political science, has been on the Conduct Board for three years.

“On the student Conduct Board, we handle academic misconduct as well as behavioral misconduct,” McKinney said.

While the legislative and executive branches take up much of the limelight, the Conduct Board, which acts as a judicial branch, is also an important part of the SG system.

“There are two main sections to a hearing,” said Amanda Lilley, a senior studying business administration and member of the Conduct Board for three years. “The first [section] is fact finding, so that’s when we’re trying to figure out what happened. We have the respondent, who is the student being accused of the conduct violation, as well as the complainant, who is usually a member of campus police or a professor.”

Lilley continued describing the conduct hearing process.

“We’ll ask both sides questions to try and figure out what happened,” Lilley said. “We’ll then take a recess to deliberate and come to a conclusion, and if they’re found responsible, we then move into sanctioning.”

Student Chief Justice Mimi McCarthy, a senior studying accounting, has been on Conduct Board for four years.

“With the sanctioning portion, we go more into the student’s character and who they are as a person,” McCarthy said. “We look at why they did what they did and why they attended NC State.”

McCarthy said the respondent has an option to bring in a character witness, someone who knows them really well and can talk about their character.

“At that point, everyone will leave and we will deliberate sanctions, which are like punishments,” McCarthy said.

The Conduct Board comprises approximately 25 members, and this year it took on nine new members, according to McKinney.

The members of Conduct Board hear many different types of cases.

“These cases might be weapons on campus, trespassing or vandalism,” McKinney said. “A few of the [behavioral misconduct] cases we handle can be underage drinking, DUIs and drug possession.”

While the Conduct Board has the final say in many student’s cases, it does not handle everything brought to the office of student conduct. It does not handle cases where a student has been accused of sexual assault, for example.

The Conduct Board, as an NC State organization, has authority over all enrolled NC State students.

“Anything that happens on NC State campus is under our jurisdiction,” Lilley said. “Anything near campus can be under our jurisdiction, as long as it involves an [NC State] student. Even if you’re on an internship in another state, as long as you’re affiliated with NC State you are under our jurisdiction.”

The Office of Student Conduct is frequently given cases from the NC State Police Department and the Raleigh Police Department. Oftentimes, once the case is handed over, the police won’t press charges.

“The reason that’s done is ultimately to help the student,” Lilley said.

Once a student is accused of wrongdoing, they can choose to “either do an administrative hearing where one of the staff from the Office [of Student Conduct] will just make the decision,” McCarthy said. “[Or] they can also go before the board, which will make the decision.”

A student who is accused of something and comes before the Conduct Board can take advantage of the Conduct Board hearing assistant. The hearing assistant is a member of the Conduct Board whose sole role in the hearing is to work with the student. They meet with the student beforehand and explain how the hearing is going to work and to answer any questions they might have.

Lilley urges any student about to come before the Conduct Board to take advantage of your hearing assistant and have a statement ready; the statement can help a lot with the case.

“Oftentimes, students don’t know about the Conduct Board until they are the respondent of an allegation,” Lilley said. “We want to draw more awareness to the Conduct Board.”