Members of the School of Mines Community Accept the Duties and Responsibilities of Citizenship
As a student at the School of Mines, you are responsible for the decisions you make that affect the campus community; you need to be a good citizen and a good neighbor. If what you do makes it so others can’t listen to the instructor in class, or sleep at night in the dorms, then you are not being a responsible citizen. If you see others breaking rules and don’t do anything about it, then you are not fulfilling your duty as a good neighbor. If you damage property, have alcohol on campus, or remain in the presence of alcohol while on campus, you are not accepting the duties and responsibilities of citizenship and you are violating university and Board of Regent policies.
It is important to understand that what you do and what you allow others to do around you impact our community. As a member of this community, you are expected to act in way that improves and benefits the community as a whole.
Example: You enter a room in Peterson Hall. You’re there to watch a movie and study for a history test. Several other people are there to drink beer and watch the movie. You see the alcohol in the room and you decide to stay. Another student enters the room, planning to study, sees the alcohol and decides to leave. Twenty minutes later, Residence Life staff knocks on the door as those who are drinking beer are getting loud. Because you chose to stay in the room knowing that policies were being violated and you did not act against the policy violation or remove yourself from the situation, you were not a responsible citizen.
Policies that are in place to assist you with decision making and guide you to knowing what it takes to accept the duties and responsibilities of citizenship include the following BOR policies listed within the SDSM&T Student Code of Conduct:
2. Disruption or obstruction of teaching, research, administration, disciplinary proceedings, other institutional activities, including its public service functions on or off campus, or other authorized non-institutional activities.
3. Disruption of or interference with the activities of persons who are studying, sleeping, or otherwise engaging in activities that are consistent with the normal and expected uses of institutional facilities, or of student residential facilities, whether institutionally controlled or not.
8. Attempted or actual damage to property, including intellectual properties, of the institution or property of a member of the institutional community or other personal or public property;
11. Failure to comply with directions of institutional officials or law enforcement officers acting in performance of their duties or failure to identify oneself to these persons when requested to do so;
13. Violation of published Board or institutional policies, rules or regulations;
14. Violation of federal, state, or local law on institutional premises or at institutionally-sponsored or -supervised activities;
15. Making bomb threats;
16. The manufacture, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol, marijuana or controlled substances by students on any property controlled by the Board of Regents and in connection with any institutionally sponsored activity; except that alcohol may be served at social activities held in other locations subject to the restrictions set out in this article;
17. Illegal or unauthorized possession of firearms, other items defined as dangerous weapons in SDCL § 22-1-2(10), fireworks, explosives, or dangerous chemicals on institutional premises;
19. Obstruction of the free flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic on institutional premises or at institutionally-sponsored or –supervised functions;
20. Conduct classified under state law or local ordinance as disorderly, lewd, indecent or a breach of peace;
21. Aiding, abetting, inviting or procuring another person to breach the peace or to violate the Student Conduct Code;
23. Abuse of the Judicial System, including but not limited to:
a. Failure to obey the summons of a judicial body or institutional official;
b. Falsification, distortion, or misrepresentation of information before a judicial body;
c. Disruption or interference with the orderly conduct of a judicial proceeding;
d. Initiation of a judicial proceeding knowingly without cause;
e. Attempting to discourage an individual’s proper participation in, or use of, the judicial system, including retaliation against persons who brought charges or gave testimony;
f. Attempting to influence the impartiality of a member of a judicial body prior to, or during the course of, the judicial proceeding;
g. Harassment (verbal or physical) or intimidation of a member of a judicial body prior to, during, or after a judicial proceeding;
h. Failure to comply with the sanction(s) imposed under the Student Code;
i. Influencing or attempting to influence another person to commit an abuse of the judicial system.
