Members of the UK community coming into contact with the Code of Student Conduct may notice some changes.

The Code of Student Conduct had not been revised since July 2005, but on June 8 the Board of Trustees approved an updated code.

The Student Code Committee, which was made up of students, faculty and administrators who drafted the updated version, had goals when coming up with the changes. These goals included aligning the code with national best practices, ensuring the code is in compliance with recent changes to federal and state laws, and incorporating recent university policy changes, according to a UK news release.

In the news release, Dana Walton-Macaulay, Division of Student Affairs interim associate dean of students for student conduct, said the revised code streamlines the conduct process once someone has charged a student with a violation. It also reduces the number of meetings required to resolve many cases, she said.

Numerous other changes to the code were made, including small word changes like “student” to “respondent,” according to the revisions. In the section titled “Rights within University Hearing Processes,” Section E previously said, “The student shall have the right to hear and question all witnesses and present witnesses of the student’s choice.” It now reads, “Both the Complainant and Respondent shall have the right to hear all evidence and question all witnesses and/or witness reports, and present witnesses and/or witness reports of the student’s choice.”

Also in the section “Rights within University Hearing Processes,” the revisions stated four additional rights of the complainant, including the right to pursue criminal charges and the right to change university housing and academic arrangements if such changes are available.

In an e-mail to the Kernel, Walton-Macaulay said changing university housing or academic arrangements would occur in any situation where there is an individual who is the complainant instead of the university.

“So think of situations where the violation of the code has a ‘victim,’ “ she said in the e-mail.

Under prohibited conduct, sexual assault, stalking and relationship violence was added, along with retaliation through others against any individual involved in a disciplinary complaint.

In the e-mail, Walton-Macaulay said these were added to make completely clear that the code prohibits these behaviors.

Under temporary sanctions, “no contact orders” was added, saying if the dean of students determines a respondent, complainant or other party needs to be protected from violence from another party in a disciplinary proceeding, he can impose a no contact order on the offending party.

“No contact orders were added to the code for clarity,” Walton-Macaulay said. “There has always been a process for no contact orders, but a student couldn’t find that information and the process in the code.”

For the current Code of Student Conduct without the new revisions, visit (www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/Code/part1.html).