Office of Student Support, Accountability, and Restoration
Calvin is a learning community where students can grow through a variety of experiences and decision-making moments. The Office of Student Support, Accountability, and Restoration (OSSAR) works alongside the Calvin community to provide a ministry of support and intentional educational interventions with students who are in crisis. Students who are not abiding by our community standards will be held accountable with the aim of restoring their actions and related harms.
As an enrolled student you are subject to the rules & regulations of the university regardless of the time of year or your geographical location; effective from the point of enrollment to the point after graduation when enrollment is terminated.
Though it is published in many locations, the current version of the student conduct code will always be available online here. This is the governing version to which questions and/or discrepancies will be directed.
Framework
Support: We work alongside faculty, staff, and community members to provide a ministry of support, remedies, and interventions with students who are in crisis, seeking support, or those who are found responsible of not abiding by our community standards.
Accountability: Accountability is a learning experience. As members of the Calvin community, students are expected to uphold our policies to maintain a safe and productive campus community. When these policies are violated, students will be held accountable. Students are expected to act as agents of renewal by recognizing how their actions and decisions impact themselves, the university community, and the world at large.
Restoration: Founded by the principles of Encounter, Transform, and Repair that comprise the concepts of restorative justice (RJ). Restoration focuses on the common sense of wrongdoing, intentions, and the harm that has occurred with the goal of walking alongside students towards redemption and renewal.
Values
Accountability: As members of the Calvin community, students are expected to uphold our policies to maintain a safe and productive campus community. When these policies are violated, students will be held accountable. Students are expected to act as agents of renewal by recognizing how their actions and decisions impact themselves, the university community, and the world at large.
Transformative learning: The basis of the student conduct process is educational and serves as a tool for development and transformation. We recognize that students are children of God but will make missteps. Often, these missteps are opportunities for growth, development, transformation, and restoration. We assist students with learning through reflection and educational interventions that strive to refocus students towards their beliefs, values, goals, and priorities; and help them develop integrity for personal success as they identify their calling.
Fairness: The Office of Student Support, Accountability, and Restoration strives to run a conduct process with integrity, honesty, compassion, empathy, equity, and respect. The process is designed to be consistent yet adaptable in order to balance the unique needs of individual students with the needs of the Calvin community. As part of this process, students can expect to be given the opportunity to share their perspectives without prejudice, to receive communication that is clear, transparent, thorough, and to have their case resolved efficiently and competently.
Collaboration: Calvin University is a large and complex institution. As such, we work to collaborate with our Student Life colleagues, academic departments, academic resource offices, Athletics, and other agencies. Together, we strive to provide a ministry of support by meeting the needs of students and the greater Calvin community.
Goals
- Help students to learn what it means to live in a Christian community. (Learning)
- Help students to understand how their actions are connected to their values, beliefs, and faith. (Faith)
- Help students understand integrity, their intentions, and harms of their actions. (Citizenship)
- Help students understand how their actions align with their calling. (Vocation)
Calvin University Drug-Free Schools and Community Act Biennial Review Report