Perhaps you made a not-so-good decision or were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe you had too much to drink and it led to being arrested or a citation. 

You should know that you are not alone and that other students have experienced similar circumstances over the years.

The Texas A&M Department of Student Community Standards (SCS), a part of the Division of Student Affairs, promotes reflection, fosters accountability, educates students and campus partners on individual rights and responsibilities within the university. 

Not to be confused with the Aggie Honor System Office, which deals primarily with academic misconduct, SCS responds to and investigates alleged student rule violations outside of the classroom.

Director of Student Community Standards Dr. Douglas Bell leads a team of 10 full-time staff members, one graduate assistant and three student workers.

“We have a great team of professionals who care deeply about Texas A&M and its students,” said Bell. “If a student is alleged to have violated the Student Code of Conduct or university rules, we are here to guide them through the student conduct process.” 

In addition to the student conduct process, SCS offers educational presentations and workshops on topics such as ethics, decision making and hazing. Staff are also available to help with conflict resolution, student behavioral concerns, and student engagement within the community in a civil and considerate manner consistent with the university’s core values.

“With our outreach programs, we are trying to educate students that Texas A&M has rules and what those rules are,” Bell said. “We are not the fun police and our job is not to stop people from having fun. Our job is to ensure people are having fun in a safe manner and within the confines of the rules that are set forth by Texas A&M.”

If an allegation is levied against a student and information is received that indicates the individual may have violated the rules, a notification letter is sent to the student or students. 

“We are really careful in looking at the language that we use,” Bell said. “We use the term ‘alleged information’ because we just have one piece of the story.”

According to Bell, a majority of the allegations are received from the University Police Department and various campus community members who submit incident reports. 

“We don’t generally get involved in off-campus incidents unless it hits the news or we are made aware of it,” Bell said. 

Each case is unique and the path to resolution can vary depending on the circumstances surrounding the incident.

“Many times students have the misconception that we have already made up our mind, but the student has the opportunity to fill in the gaps, confirm, and refute the information we already received,” Bell said. “The student can review all the information we receive in the allegation and can respond to that information.”

“A lot of students come in that are upset and heated initially, or they are extremely nervous since they know they are being charged with something,” said former case administrator and current conduct investigator Audrey Winking. “Once we show empathy and understanding, they almost always tend to turn it around and we usually have a really productive meeting."

For the 2023-24 school year, 820 students were alleged to have violated one or more university rules. Of those, 655 accepted responsibility or were found responsible.

“Even if found responsible, students generally end up understanding why and appreciate the fact that we listened to them,” Winking said. “They understand that we want them to learn from the situation, and that in the vast majority of cases, all of their respective goals for their experience and education at Texas A&M are still attainable.” 

Part of that learning is in the educational workshops assigned to those who have been found to have violated university rules. In 2023-24, students were assigned 814 workshop sanctions. The workshops cover topics such as hazing, alcohol, illegal drugs, and ethics, among others.

On the other end of the sanction spectrum is expulsion or suspension, but those instances are rare with two students expelled and two others suspended in 2023-24.

Other types of sanctions include conduct probation, contact restrictions, and letters of reprimand, to name a few. According to Winking, all sanctions are designed to be a learning experience in some form or fashion.

“I can see with students the point when I finally got through to them,” Winking said. “Finally getting them to the point that they see that you are truly trying to help. We can give students the tools to learn from mistakes, but they have to use them.

Mistakes happen. When they do, it’s important to take the opportunity to turn them into meaningful experiences.

“There are three main points I want students to remember,” Bell said. “The outcome of this process is not predetermined, student’s have a voice in the process, and our staff is here to help students navigate the process and learn from the experience.”