The university is implementing changes to the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities following the regular amendment process and to comply with updates to federal and state law. 

The statement serves as the primary policy to hold students accountable for non-academic misconduct. The statement is routinely reviewed and updated following an amendment process or to comply with legal obligations. Every three years, students, faculty and staff have the opportunity to recommend amendments to the statement. 

Proposals are reviewed by three different groups, depending on whether they were submitted by students (Central Student Government), faculty (Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs), or staff (executive officers). 

Proposals that move forward are reviewed by SACUA’s Student Relations Advisory Committee and then the vice president for student life. The university president makes the final decision on amendments to the statement. 

Following the amendment process, changes have been made to the statement to: 

• Include “doxxing,” AI-facilitated impersonation, and harming animals to violations.
• Update process and conflict resolution agreement timelines.
• Align certain violations with existing resolution agreement practices.
• Modify joint arbitration and amendment process language.

In addition to the amendments, the university is implementing additional modifications to the statement to reflect changes to federal, state, or university laws or policies. These include updates related to a new University of Michigan Policy Against Hazing in compliance with the Stop Campus Hazing Act, and new University of Michigan Interim Policy and Procedures on Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation by Students to comply with Title VI. Additional updates reflect administrative changes to help administer the statement. 

New administrative department for student conduct 

The university has created a dedicated department related to student conduct. This new department, the Office of Student Accountability, will be separate from the Office of Student Conflict Resolution. The two will be organized under a new umbrella unit, Student Resolution Resources. 

This reorganization will best allow OSCR and OSA to together offer the full range of conflict resolution and community accountability pathways that are educationally-focused, student-centered, and restorative in nature.  

Erik Wessel will serve as director of Student Resolution Resources and will oversee both OSCR and OSA; Wessel previously served as director of OSCR.

OSA will be responsible for gathering facts related to a complaint of a possible violation of the statement. It will also represent the university community in situations where there is no complainant. Changes made to the statement in 2024 clarified the university’s capacity to serve as a complainant within the process.

This work has recently been led by OSCR staff and other university staff but will transition to staff in the new department starting this academic year. Violations of policies cited within the statement will follow their stated procedures.

Pathways for resolution

Students continue to have the option to voluntarily participate in adaptable resolution processes through OSCR when appropriate. In these situations, both the respondent and the complainant agree that harm occurred and, together with the assistance of an OSCR facilitator, explore possible solutions to repair harm. 

OSCR offers a variety of adaptable, informal resolution pathways including conflict coaching, facilitated dialogue, restorative justice circles, shuttle negotiation and mediation. 

In situations where an agreement cannot be reached, or the alleged misconduct is severe or is part of a repeated behavior, a formal conflict resolution process may be used. This formal process will be managed by OSA under the direction of SRR. 

More information about Student Resolution Resources and the Office of Student Accountability, including a new website, will be available later this year.