The Advocacy Program is an Institute initiative designed to provide students with a supportive RIT faculty or staff partner as they engage in the student conduct process. Incidents that students find themselves involved in are often complex, overwhelming and confusing. The Advocate can be a steadying influence during a turbulent experience.

Students are given the option of working with an Advocate for both Formal and Informal Conduct hearings.

An Advocate may play a formal role both prior to the Student Conduct hearing as well as during the hearing.

The role of the Advocate prior to the hearing is:

• To meet with the student in preparation for the hearing.
• To assist the student in understanding RIT policies
• To assist the student in understanding the procedures of the conduct process
• To help the student access appropriate Institute resources

The RIT Student Conduct process is educational in nature and is intended to address student misconduct in accordance with RIT's community expectations. As an educational experience, the participating student is expected to take primary responsibility for responding to the incident in question.

During the hearing, the Advocate's role may include "active participation" under the following guidelines:

• "Active Participation" may range from silent support to assisting the student in making statements and responding to questions.
• The Advocate may assist the student in clarifying information pertinent to the incident

• The Advocate does not "represent" the student in the hearing
• The Advocate is considered a supportive partner in the educational process; not an adversary
• The Advocate does not serve as a "character witness" for the student

Students have several options when choosing to work with an Advocate. A student may:

• Select a specific person from the list of trained Advocates provided by Student Conduct
• Request that a selection be made for them from the list of trained Advocates.
• Select an RIT faculty/staff member with whom they are familiar. Brief training will be provided to that person by the Advocacy Coordinator

The Advocacy Coordinator will then arrange the Advocate assignment.

For more information, or to request an Institute Advocate, please contact:

Joe Johnston
Coordinator for Advocacy
475-7668 (v/tty)
jpjvsa@rit.edu