Student Rights and Responsibilities and Community Standards
Saint Louis University is committed to the preservation of personal dignity and the safety of its community members. All members of the SLU-Madrid community share responsibility for fostering this environment by adhering to standards of conduct.
Learn About Student Rights, Responsibilities and Community Standards (PDF)
Understanding the Conduct Process
The Mission of Saint Louis University is to help students become men and women for others. Consistent with the philosophy of a Jesuit education and this mission, the Office of Student Life is committed to developing and nurturing a community that embraces responsibility and prioritizes individual growth and development.
The goal of our office is to work with students as part of their personal growth in daily life, outside the classroom. For this reason, Student Life develops holistic programs for your spiritual and physical growth as well as volunteer and student engagement opportunities. When your words and actions come into conflict with the ideals of Saint Louis University, we follow an educational disciplinary process that assists you in understanding the consequences of your actions and helps to improve your decision-making skills.
The Conduct Process
If you have been involved in a potential policy violation, you will be contacted by email and asked to attend an individual hearing about your conduct. During this individual hearing, you will have the opportunity to discuss the incident with a University hearing officer, a staff member who investigates and determines responsibility of any violations.
Failure to attend this meeting will result in the case being decided in your absence, as well as a failure to comply violation, an additional Community Standard violation on your record that may result in a registration hold being placed on your account.
Should you accept responsibility or be found responsible for the charges, you may receive sanctions. These are outcomes designed to educate you about how your actions impact both you and others.
After you receive the Hearing Outcome Letter, you have three days to submit a Community Standards Appeal.
Differences from a Legal Process
Saint Louis University's conduct process is designed to teach our students to accept responsibility for their actions, to help them realize the impact of their decisions and to foster positive community values.
For these goals to be attained, students must represent themselves in our conduct process. Attorneys are not permitted to be part of conduct hearings as they would be in a civil or criminal court. Decisions about responsibility are made with a preponderance of the evidence, or "more likely than not," standard.
Consequences of Misconduct
Sanctions are assigned based on the violation and the frequency of the violation. They can include:
- Written admonition
- Counseling referrals
- Restitution
- Community service
- Restricted access
- Loss of SLU-Madrid privileges
- Housing probation (restrictions on access to the host family)
- Loss of scholarships
- Loss of the ability to be a campus leader, including a campus ambassador, club leader or SGA officer
- Probation
- Suspension
- Expulsion
For more severe policy violations, such as sexual assault or repeated violations, students can face suspension or expulsion.
Title IX and Sex Discrimination: Title IX does not apply to institutions outside of the U.S. and its territories. SLU-Madrid, however, does support its partner schools and Saint Louis University in their Title IX compliance efforts.
Notification of Outside Parties
When deemed appropriate, SLU-Madrid reserves the right to notify a student's parents or guardians at any time during a disciplinary process.
SLU-Madrid reserves the right to notify the student's home campus authorities of any inappropriate conduct and of any sanctions imposed. The decision to notify the student's home campus will be communicated beforehand in writing to the student. The student involved may appeal that decision in writing to the highest-ranking administrator no later than two days after the student has received formal notification of the intent to communicate.