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You work as a Student Code of Conduct Manager at a University. In that role, you are in charge of handling cases of non-academic misconduct by following the university’s policy and procedures. At your school, non-academic student misconduct can include a range of offences including damaging or stealing school property, disruption of school activities, assault, harassment and discrimination. A student brings forward a complaint to you. She tells you that another student sexually assaulted her, and you begin to process the complaint following the university’s policy and procedures. However, as the complaint process progresses, the student who filed the complaint tells you that the process is extremely difficult for her. She tells you that the specific procedures that your university has in place are retraumatizing and exacerbating the health issues she has as a result of her assault, which include Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She says that she cannot sleep, is terrified of attending classes and is worried that she is falling behind in her schoolwork. While you can see that her health is deteriorating, you explain that you cannot change the university policies or procedures. The student then brings you documentation from her doctor to show that the university’s policies and procedures are causing her harm and making the complaint process inaccessible to her. She also tells you that her health has deteriorated so much that she must now take a leave from her university studies.  She is worried about her finances and how she will be able to afford to return to university. While you are sympathetic to her experience and can see that her health is deteriorating, you explain again that you are not able to change the university’s policies or procedures.

  • No, you are not meeting your responsibilities under the Code. A university is considered a service provider under B.C.’s Human Rights Code and has a responsibility to accommodate people who access or try to access their service. This student’s medical diagnoses are considered a disability under the Code, and service providers have a legal responsibility not to discriminate against people with a disability. In this case, the University could have adjusted its policy and procedures to allow the student to participate in the misconduct process in a way that would not worsen the effects of her disability and cause her harm. Since it did not make this accommodation for her, the misconduct complaint process was not accessible to her in a way that it would be to a student who did not have a disability.

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