The full COD comprises at least six members of the faculty, eight undergraduate students, and the deputy dean of the college.  The dean of undergraduate students serves as chair of the committee; the deputy dean of the college may replace her as chair.  The chair serves without vote except in the event of a tie.  A deputy, senior associate or associate dean of undergraduate students serves as secretary.  The secretary does not vote. A quorum of the committee consists of a minimum of at least two members of the faculty and three students.

The 2024-2025 members of the COD are:

Dean Joyce Chen (Secretary)

Dean Elizabeth L. Colagiuri (Deputy Dean of the College, ODOC)

Dean Regan Crotty (Chair)

Gabby Graves-Wake ’25 (Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering)

Tarun Iyengar '28

Dean Amy Ham Johnson (Assistant Secretary)

Jisang Kymm '28

Jordan S. Manela ’26 (Computer Science)

Professor Atif R. Mian (Economics)

Professor Elizabeth R. Nugent (Politics)

Professor Pedro Paredes (Computer Science)

Andrew Park ’26 (Economics)

Professor Jamie Rankin (German)

Weston Richards ’28

Professor Alejandro Rodriguez (Electrical and Computer Engineering)

Khoa Sands ’26 (History)

Professor Thomas Silhavy (Molecular Biology)

Josie V. Smart ’25 (French & Italian)

Cecily H. Swanson (Associate Dean, ODOC)

Dean Mellisa Thompson (Assistant Secretary)

Professor Gabriele Villarini (Civil and Environmental Engineering)

Bobby Xia ’28

Simone Acosta ’27 (School of Public and International Affairs)

Claire Espinosa ’27 (Economics)

Gabriel Samcam Vargas ’26 (Molecular Biology)

Sania Edlich ‘28

Generally, potential academic integrity violations, such as plagiarism, improper collaboration, or an attempt to gain an unfair advantage are reported by instructors to the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS). Occasionally students voice concerns about possible academic integrity violations.

A majority of non-academic alleged infractions come to the attention of ODUS through reports from the Department of Public Safety (DPS), although they can be received from other community members as well.

Yes, if you believe that you have been the victim of, or have witnessed, a violation of University rules and regulations, you are strongly encouraged to contact your assistant dean for student life (ADSL) or a dean in ODUS.  Remember that undergraduates are obliged to report suspected violations of the Honor Code to the chair of the Honor Committee by emailing [email protected].

If you choose to file a report through your ADSL or a dean in ODUS and prefer to remain anonymous, every attempt will be made to accommodate you in this regard.  However, your anonymity cannot be guaranteed.  If a student will have a potential disciplinary violation heard by a disciplinary committee, that student will have the right to review all information that will be considered by the COD or RCDB when adjudicating, and it may be necessary to disclose your name. 

Note that the University maintains an EthicsPoint hotline where anyone may make an anonymous report: 1-866-478-9804 or princetonuniversity.ethicspoint.com. (For cases that fall under the jurisdiction of the Honor Committee, students who report a potential violation of the Honor Code remain anonymous under their process).

If there is a report of possible misconduct on your part, here’s what will happen:  A dean or a member of our Student Support and Community Standards (SSCS) team will reach out to you to discuss the matter.  You will be asked to give an account of what happened.  You’ll be invited to identify any individuals who may have relevant information or to identify any documents (photos, videos, emails, text messages, etc.) that may be pertinent.  The person meeting with you will take notes and explain next steps.  You will be invited to write a statement in your own words. 

The member of our SSCS team will interview any other individuals with information and collect documents. 

You are strongly discouraged from doing any “detective work” yourself.  Please refrain from directly contacting other individuals who may have relevant information and discussing the case while it is in progress. This policy helps safeguard the integrity of the information-gathering process and helps prevent the real or perceived experience of pressure, retaliation, or coercion. Instead, tell the member of our SSCS team about any individuals who should be interviewed and any other relevant information, and they will take care of it.

The University seeks to conduct disciplinary adjudications with reasonable promptness. The information-gathering process will proceed as quickly as possible. However, the length of time may depend on how many individuals need to be interviewed and whether follow-up interviews are necessary.

The Committee typically learns about academic integrity cases from instructors and potential non-academic policy violations from any number of sources, including DPS reports, EthicsPoint reports, or other reports. At the conclusion of the information-gathering process, the chair of the COD, in consultation with other University officials as appropriate, will determine whether a hearing before the Committee will be necessary to determine whether you may have violated one or more University policies. Remember that being notified of a hearing is not the same thing as being found responsible.

At the end of the information-gathering process:

The secretary or assistant secretary of the Committee will meet with you to review the potential policy violations and to go over COD standards and procedures;

You will be notified in writing of the specific University policies that the COD will consider as potential violations and the date on which the matter will be decided;

You will be provided with copies of all documents that the COD will refer to in deciding your case. Read these documents carefully, and if anything is missing or incomplete, contact the secretary of the Committee.

You should do the following. 

Decide who will serve as your advisor.  Your advisor may be any person in the current residential University community.  

You may wish to consider asking your residential college dean, assistant dean for student life, or assistant dean for studies to advise you, because as members of the residential college staff, these individuals all have a great deal of experience in the disciplinary process.  They can be helpful in providing emotional and procedural support, such as offering advice regarding your response to the potential policy violations, helping you review evidence or case documents, highlighting areas of questioning or inconsistencies that the Committee may want to explore, and providing feedback on statements or documents that you may wish to submit to the Committee for consideration. 

Members of the residential college staff can also play a key role in helping you think about and access resources related to other areas of your time at Princeton that may be impacted during a COD hearing, such as your health and well-being, academic commitments, financial aid, and other personal and co-curricular considerations.

Although residential college deans, ADSLs, and assistant deans for studies are very experienced in serving as advisors, the only requirement is that your advisor must be a member of the University community. For example, you may choose a faculty member or administrator if you wish (but not a retired faculty or staff member, or Princeton alumnus, unless they are a current staff or faculty member). 

You may also elect to choose a Peer Representative as your advisor or as an additional confidential resource. Peer Representatives are students who are trained to provide support to students who have hearings before the Honor Committee or COD. They can provide emotional support, offer advice about any statements or evidence you wish to present, and generally help you navigate the hearing process. If a Peer Representative is serving as your advisor in the COD process, you may choose to share your case documents with them. To get in touch with the Peer Representatives, please contact [email protected]. 

Your advisor can help you with many things, including:

1. Reviewing the documents that have been provided to you;
2. Discussing whether additional documents, statements or other information should be considered by the COD in deciding your case;
3. Drafting statements you would like to communicate to the Committee;
4. Helping you anticipate questions that may be asked during the hearing.

Make an appointment to speak with your ADSL, even if you have chosen a different advisor.  Your ADSL will be able to assist you in many ways as you prepare for a COD hearing, including connecting you with resources and support that may be available to you during and after the process.

Contact the secretary of the Committee with any questions about the potential policy violations, the procedures and standards the COD will follow, or any other concern about your case.

If you are a varsity student athlete, meet with Associate Dean of the College Alec Dun (Athletic Advising) ([email protected] or 258-1402) or Senior Associate Director of Athletics Greg Busch ([email protected] or 258-3751) as soon as possible. 

Consider making an appointment at Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) or with another confidential counselor (e.g., the chaplains at the Office of Religious Life) ) for confidential support and guidance. CPS can be reached at 609-258-3141.

Talk to your parents/guardians.  It is easier for parents/guardians to hear about a disciplinary matter before it is resolved, rather than after the fact. Please see FAQ 15 for additional information regarding circumstances under which disciplinary action is shared with parents/guardians.

Review the documents with which you have been provided.  If there are any additional individuals who you believe should be interviewed, or any additional documents that you believe should be provided to the COD, contact Dean Joyce Chen (secretary), Dean Amy Ham Johnson (assistant secretary), and/or the member of the SSCS team you met with as soon as possible.  You are strongly advised not to contact any individuals about the case; instead, tell Dean Chen, Dean Ham Johnson, and/or the member of the SSCS team about questions that you believe should be asked of any individuals with information.  You may also submit a statement yourself. 

Review Rights, Rules, Responsibilities, especially the passages that describe the conduct that may be a violation of University policy.  The applicable Rights Rules Responsibilities provision(s) will be provided to you in the letter you receive notifying you of when you will be meeting with the COD; you may also speak to Dean Chen or Dean Ham Johnson in advance of your hearing if you have any questions about this. Look at section 2.5.2 for a description of the COD process.

Think about the opening and closing statements that you will be invited to read during the hearing.  Make notes and write drafts and discuss them with your advisor.

In certain circumstances, an undergraduate student whose case falls under the jurisdiction of the COD may request a Dean’s Disposition, waiving the right to a hearing by the committee  and having the dean of undergraduate students adjudicate the matter. If a Dean’s Disposition is a possibility, that option will be shared with the student involved in the disciplinary proceeding.

The members of the Student Support and Community Standards team and the Committee on Discipline are listed on the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students website. If you believe that there is a conflict of interest with someone involved in your case, you may reach out to Dean of Undergraduate Students Regan Crotty, to explain your concerns; you should do so as soon as they are aware of a potential conflict. Please note that the involvement by a member of the Student Support and Community Standards Team or the COD in a previous disciplinary inquiry does not pose a conflict. If the Dean determines that a conflict of interest exists, the appropriate action will be taken.

They are as follows:

1. You will receive written notice of the policy violation(s) to be considered by the COD, as well as the time and date for the Zoom hearing.
2. You will receive copies of all documents to be considered by the COD in advance of the hearing. 
3. You may be accompanied by an advisor, selected from within the current residential University community. 
4. You may be present during the entire hearing. However, Committee deliberations are closed.

You may make opening and closing statements at the hearing.  

The general structure of the hearing is as follows:  

The Chair will introduce the Committee members and explain some ground rules; you will be given the opportunity to make an opening statement; the instructor (if any) will be given the opportunity to comment; the Committee members will ask questions of you; you will be given the opportunity to make a closing statement at the end; and your advisor will have an opportunity to add any comments at the end.

Individuals who have been interviewed or have submitted written statements or members of the SSCS team you met with may be asked to be available at the hearing; you may request to question any available individual who has been interviewed if clarifications or additional information is needed, although the Committee has discretion on whether to permit this. 

You will normally be informed of the outcome in person (or by Zoom or telephone if an in-person meeting is not possible) the day after the hearing and will receive written confirmation of the decision in the days that follow.

At the conclusion of the hearing, you and your advisor will be excused, and the COD will deliberate in closed session. COD members first consider whether there is clear and persuasive evidence of conduct that amounts to one or more of the violations of University policy. This decision is made by majority vote; the Chair votes only if there is a tie.

If you are found responsible for one or more violations, the COD will consider the appropriate penalty. If you are found responsible for a violation of University policy, there will always be a sanction. The COD has the authority to impose any of the penalties listed at section 1.1.7 of Rights, Rules, Responsibilities, which include a Dean’s Warning, Reprimand, Disciplinary Probation, Suspension (Not Served), Suspension, Suspension with Conditions, Withholding of Degree or Expulsion. Where appropriate, the COD may accompany the sanction with censure, campus service, housing restrictions, restrictions on access to resources, space or activities, restitution for damages or educational refresher programs. 

In an academic case, the COD will be guided by this language: 

In determining the sanction, the Faculty-Student Committee on Discipline will consider the seriousness of the violation and whether the student ought reasonably to have understood that the actions were in violation of University regulations. If the committee concludes the violation was serious enough to warrant an immediate separation from the University, the sanction will be suspension or suspension with conditions from the University. Egregious academic integrity violations on the senior thesis may be grounds for expulsion. Students who have previously been separated for an academic integrity violation should expect to be expelled for a second such violation. While the failure to fulfill the general requirements for acknowledgment of sources in academic work may not be determined to reach this level of seriousness, any such failure will be considered an academic infraction and will normally result in a disciplinary sanction. (RRR 2.4.6, 2.4.7 and 2.4.8.)

If the Committee finds you responsible, the secretary will disclose to the Committee whether the you have a previous disciplinary record. The COD considers relevant precedents, among other factors, and determines the appropriate penalty, again by majority vote. Please note that students who are suspended for one semester will need to be away from campus for one year (a one semester suspension followed by a one semester administrative leave of absence). Students who are suspended are not eligible to apply to return out of phase. See question 17 of this FAQ document for more information.

If you are suspended and the suspension is applied to the current semester, then your grade in the class will not appear on the transcript. If you receive a Suspension (Not Served), are Suspended but finish the current semester, or are placed on Disciplinary Probation, then the grade in the class will be reflected on your transcript.  The grade in the class is within the discretion of your instructor and is separate from any penalty that the COD imposes.  If you are found responsible for an academic integrity infraction, your instructor has the discretion to issue a grading penalty (for example, a zero (0) on the exam or assignment or an F in the course). You may contact your instructor if you have any questions about your grade. If you do not feel comfortable contacting your instructor directly, please let Dean Ham Johnson or Dean Chen know.

You and your advisor will typically be informed of the outcome the day after the hearing. Disciplinary records are highly confidential. Only Princeton University officials with a professional need to know, such as your residential college deans and the instructor in an academic integrity case or the administrator who refers the case in certain behavioral cases, will be informed about the outcome. With very few exceptions (e.g., in cases implicating Title IX, which are not handled through the COD process, and assault cases), disciplinary records are not disclosed to other students.  Disciplinary records are not disclosed to outside parties without your written consent or in rare cases, without a lawful subpoena. If you authorize the University to release your disciplinary record to a third party (such as a graduate or professional school to which you are applying for admission), the University will not disclose infractions resulting in a Dean’s Warning, Reprimand or Disciplinary Probation unless you commit another infraction for which you receive a Suspension (Not Served), Suspension, Suspension with Conditions, Withholding of Degree or Expulsion; in that case, the University may need to explain that the you were previously on Disciplinary Probation. For more information about Disciplinary Probation, please see the FAQs on the ODUS website. 

A Suspension (Not Served), Suspension, Suspensions with Conditions, Withholding of Degree, and Expulsion is communicated to your parents or legal guardians. In some cases, parents may be notified when you have been found responsible for a violation which, if followed by a subsequent infraction, could lead to a Suspension (Not Served) or separation (typically where a student has received the maximum amount of Disciplinary Probation). While the University will not generally reach out to parents/guardians in advance of a hearing, we urge you to take that initiative and be open with your parents/guardians about the fact that you will have a hearing before the Committee and explain the range of potential outcomes.

If you are issued a Suspension (Not Served) by the Committee then you can remain enrolled in classes and do not need to leave campus, but the Suspension (Not Served) is recorded on your transcript. If you are found responsible for a subsequent significant policy violation, you will be required to serve both the suspension period from the first infraction and the suspension period from the subsequent infraction; this would likely result in a separation of one or two years or expulsion, depending on the seriousness of the violation. 

Your suspension normally begins in the semester that the infraction is adjudicated (heard by the Committee).  For example, if an infraction occurs and is adjudicated during the fall semester, your suspension begins that fall semester, the spring semester would be an administrative leave of absence, and you would return as an enrolled student the following fall semester. However, if your case is adjudicated during the last week of classes, you are typically given the option of either: 1) finishing the semester (receiving credit and grades for all the courses in the current semester) and serving the Suspension in the following semester; or 2) applying the Suspension to the current semester, in which case you would not receive any credit or grades for classes taken during that semester. If your case is adjudicated after Dean’s Date in a given semester, then you must finish the semester and your course grades for the semester will appear on your transcript. 

If you are Suspended for one semester during the fall semester and your Suspension will apply to the fall semester, the spring semester will be an administrative leave of absence, and you will be eligible for reinstatement the fall of the following academic year. If you are Suspended for one semester during the last week of classes of the fall semester and you choose to finish the fall semester, then your Suspension will apply to the spring semester, the following fall semester will be an administrative leave of absence, and you will be eligible to return the spring semester of the following academic year.   

If you receive a one-semester Suspension, then the term following your suspension will be recorded on your transcript as an administrative leave of absence. For more information about policies governing leaves of absence, see the Undergraduate Announcement on Leaves of Absence.

Students who receive Suspensions are automatically eligible for reinstatement following their separation, unless specific conditions are attached to their return (e.g. restitution for property damage, return of stolen property, etc.).

A conclusion of “No Finding” indicates that Committee members were seriously concerned that University policy was violated but did not have clear and persuasive evidence of a violation. An outcome of “No Finding” does not result in a penalty. Further, this determination will not be shared with third parties and, if a graduate or professional school or prospective employer asks you whether you have been found responsible for a violation (and your case resulted in a No Finding), your answer would be “no.”

If you are found responsible for one or more academic integrity violations, you may appeal to the dean of the college on the grounds that (1) there exists substantial relevant information that was not presented, and reasonably could not have been presented, to the Faculty-Student Committee on Discipline, or (2) the imposed penalty does not fall within the range of penalties imposed for similar misconduct.  A student found responsible for an academic integrity violation may also file a procedural appeal with the Judicial Committee of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC).

If you are found responsible for one or more non-academic violations, you may appeal the decision to an appellate body comprising three of the following five people: the dean of the College, the Vice President of Campus Life, the dean of the Graduate School, the chairman of the Judicial Committee of the CPUC, and one other member of the faculty appointed by the President.  You may appeal on one or more of the following grounds: (1) the procedures were not fair and reasonable; (2) substantial relevant information has emerged that was not presented, and reasonably could not have been presented to the COD; (3) the imposed penalty does not fall within the range of penalties imposed for similar misconduct. 

Note that “the purpose of an appeal is not to initiate a review of substantive issues of fact or a new determination of whether a violation of University rules has occurred” (RRR 2.5.2).

The deadline for filing an appeal in a case is one week from the date of decision by the COD. All appeals are coordinated by Christine Gage, Senior Associate Secretary, Office of the President ([email protected] or 609-258-3151) and must be received by 5:00 pm on the date specified in your outcome letter.

Please note that if your appeal is still pending as the end of the semester approaches, you should consult with your residential college dean to discuss your options. 

The residential college staff and the secretary of the COD will be happy to discuss resources and accommodations that may be of use to you. You are strongly advised to seek confidential counseling, for example, by visiting Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) or the chaplains in the Office of Religious Life. You may also consult your residential college staff about other accommodations that may be available, including housing and/or academic accommodations.

Students with a disability may obtain information regarding resources that may be available by contacting Asha Nambiar, Director of Accessibility and Disability Services ((609) 258- 8840 or [email protected]) or the Office of Disability Services (609-258-8840 or [email protected]).

You may file a Title IX grievance with the Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity, Michele Minter ([email protected]). Please also see the Sexual Misconduct & Title IX link in the list below.

You may contact Cheri Burgess, Director, Institutional Equity and EEO in the Office of the Provost ([email protected]); please also see the Inclusive Princeton link in the list below.