Incident Procedures

Following the receipt of an incident complaint, staff from the OSCCS send a notice letter to the respondent(s), informing them that a complaint has been received and the alleged violations in the complaint. They may also choose to meet with the complainant to follow up and answer any questions they may have about the process.

At the meeting, OSCCS staff will review the complaint, answer questions, and discuss options for responding. Following the meeting, the respondent has three business days to submit a written response to the complaint.

Once all the respondents submit their response or that deadline passes (whichever comes first), OSCCS staff reviews all case information with the Chair of the COD. The Chair reviews it and determines how the case will be handled: administratively, via sanctioning panel, or via COD Hearing.

If the case is handled administratively, OSCCS staff sends a decision letter on the Chair’s behalf. The decision may include a finding of responsibility, a warning letter, disciplinary probation, as well as educational sanctions. Cases involving suspension or expulsion may not be resolved via administrative resolution.

The COD Chair will either decide to resolve a case with an administrative resolution, a hearing, or a sanctioning panel. Students are notified of the chair’s decision via email from the OSCCS. If a case is sent to a hearing panel, students will meet with the OSCCS to learn about next steps.

Students or student organizations who are found responsible for violating policies work collaboratively with OSCCS staff to manage completion of sanctions. When sanctions are completed, OSCCS staff close the case.

When faculty members suspect academic misconduct, they can contact the OSCCS to consult regarding best practices for response. Faculty can then choose to document incidents with a Faculty Letter to File or COD complaint.

The OSCCS will either forward the Faculty Letter to File to the student or students involved or send a formal initial notice. Students can contact the OSCCS with questions prior to responding to Faculty Letters to File or scheduling initial meetings.

Faculty Letters to File

In the case of a Faculty Letter to File, students have three business days to decide if they will:

• Not respond
• Send a written response to the letter
• Request a full review of the case by the COD Chair

After three business days, OSCCS staff will check for responses to letters to file. Students who send no response or a supplement will be found responsible and will receive only the letter to file as a sanction. Students requesting reviews will schedule initial meetings with the OSCCS.

Formal COD Process

Students who are referred to the formal COD process via a complaint to the COD will be sent an initial notice. These students will proceed through the COD process similar to those referred for issues of personal misconduct.

As a witness, you may provide your information related to a situation by:

• Submitting a written statement using the Witness Statement Form
• Meeting with OSCCS staff
• Participating during a COD panel meeting
• A combination of the above options

If you are serving as a witness, you should check with the person you are serving as a witness for regarding deadlines to submit documentation.

In general, witnesses share information and are interviewed prior to the hearing or panel. Witnesses who participated in an investigation/fact-finding or submitted a witness statement will not be permitted to appear in the hearing or unless the Chair determines the COD would benefit from questioning the witness. The Chair may permit a witness to appear at a hearing upon a showing of good cause made prior to the panel meeting, or the Chair may request that a witness appear at a hearing without a request from either party if the Chair believes the presence of such witness will be useful to the COD members involved in the case.

If you are serving as a witness to a COD panel, you will be called in to speak at a specified time. Most witnesses wait outside the panel room in a nearby location if the panel is in person. When it is your turn to speak, the OSCCS staff will walk you to the panel room or if it is a virtual meeting, you will be let into the Zoom meeting room.

The Chair will ask you to introduce yourself and provide a brief statement about your understanding of the incident. Given that you have not been present for the entire panel meeting, the panel may already have some of the information you share. That said, please feel free to provide a general summary of your perspective. Following that, you will be asked questions by the COD Panel and the involved parties. You are not required to answer questions; you may respectfully decline. Once the questioning has concluded, you will be excused. You will be instructed to either leave or wait nearby until the end of the panel meeting. The panel occasionally asks witnesses to remain in the event of follow-up questions.

Focus on the Facts
As much as possible, describe someone’s behavior (example: “The other student raised their voice to a level I would describe as yelling”) rather than what that behavior led you to conclude (example: “The other student was angry.”).

Include Names of All Individuals Involved in the Incident
The narrative should focus on specific information about an individual’s role in an incident. If there is more than one individual involved, list them all in one incident report.

Identify Policies Violated
The discipline process is designed to determine if a student is responsible or not responsible for alleged policy violations. To the best of your ability, identify the policies you believe were violated. OSCCS can assist you with understanding the policies, but providing an initial list is helpful.

Provide Documentation/Evidence
For the respondent to be found responsible, MIT requires that a case meet the standard of evidence known as “preponderance of the evidence.” This essentially means that evidence needs to demonstrate it is “more likely than not” that a violation occurred. You do not need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the respondent committed the alleged violations, but the evidence needs to indicate it is more likely than not that they did so.

If there is any documentation (emails, screenshots, photos, course assignments), include these in the incident report. If evidence includes an illegal and/or dangerous item (e.g., drugs, weapon, etc), that should be turned over to MIT Police for appropriate storage.

Generally, cases should be submitted as close to the incident as possible, so the details are fresh in your memory and the behavior can be addressed quickly. Sometimes, however, complainants may want to wait until some time has passed or their circumstances have changed. In those cases, consider writing down the details of what occurred for your own future reference.

Please note if you are concerned about the respondent continuing to contact you, we can provide you with information about a no-contact order.

Anonymous reports limit the ability of the OSCCS or COD to respond due to the inability to confirm or verify the information presented without attribution. If you are considering submitting a case anonymously, we suggest you contact OSCCS staff to discuss your case prior to submitting the report.

You may not always be able to find out the outcome of your case. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (also known as “FERPA”) protects the confidentiality of discipline records. Some exceptions apply for cases of sexual misconduct; for those cases the person identified as a victim/survivor would be informed of the outcome.

It is very common for these situations to cause stress. We encourage those involved in the conduct process to seek support from deans, advisors, housemasters, GRTs, friends, and MIT Health: Mental Health and Counseling.