Story by Livie Hickey, Reporter

Photo courtesy of Valentina Garcia 

Recently, there have been changes made to the Aquinas College Student Code of Conduct.  Though the changes are not major, they give more information and specifications.

Changes include the addition of a table of contents, making navigation throughout the handbook easier. Likewise, all important phone numbers were moved to their own page in the back of the handbook.

Perhaps one of the biggest changes was the wording of things. Verbosity was taken out, making the handbook two pages shorter than before. Although it seems like small change, it has made the handbook  more comprehensible.  

Sections were also added, illustrating that the handbook is more precise.  The handbook now has a section regarding “Consent” under the “Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, Stalking and Sexual Conduct/Exploitation” section. The new sections gives a formal definition of consent, and explains all violations of consent.

Another addition that was put into the handbook is the location of the Residence Life office. This information is  located under the “Residence Life Information” portion of the handbook. Under the same portion, two sections, Houses on Campus and Living-Learning Communities, were put together as one. The reason behind this being that Living-Learning Communities live in campus houses, therefore, it made sense to have them under the same heading.

Under a separate portion, “Residence Hall Regulations,” there are new definitions that were implemented for comprehension. The words “Room,” “Guest” and “Visitor” are defined to be explained as used in the text. Also, the new Student Code of Conduct starts this portion off with Coeducational Visitation rules, as well as policies pertaining to guests and visitors. Lastly, the same section now includes policies on drug and alcohol use in campus housing. The handbook gives specifics on the following measures that will be taken if a student is found to have possession of these items.