News Bites Week of April 14

Pomona proposes student code changes

Pomona College’s Student Affairs Committee is proposing changes to its student code, which primarily add clarification to various existing policies, Pomona Dean of Students Avis Hinkson announced in an email to students.

The proposal includes revisions to Pomona’s drug and alcohol policy, including further clarification about the college’s requirement that students register parties and other social gatherings.

The proposed policy adds a speech code to the student code, which delimits protected and unprotected speech and adds a provision requiring students to “take appropriate care” to ensure the safety of shared spaces, including “making an effort to close and lock entrances to residence halls and dorm rooms.”

A provision of the updated code would allow student affairs to impose preliminary punishments on students when cases regarding code violations are referred to the Judiciary Council.

Pomona also clarified policies regarding protected conduct policy violation investigation procedures, the appeal procedure for drug and alcohol policy violation points and the Good Samaritan Policy for students seeking medical attention for drug and alcohol issues.

The new policy adds a provision protecting students who report possible Title IX policy violations from punishment for other conduct violations that the college finds out about from the Title IX report.

Community members have until May 10 to comment on the proposals, according to Hinkson’s email.

— Marc Rod