About

Although studies of discipline disparities in K-12 schools routinely indicate that Black, Latinx, Pacific Islander, and American Indian youth are disciplined at higher rates compared to their white or Asian counterparts, we know very little about whether and how these disparities appear in higher education student conduct processes. Currently there is no national data or research that tracks discipline disparities in higher education, making it impossible to determine if inequitable treatment exists in university student conduct processes in the same way that it does in K-12 schooling.

Yet there is reason to believe that student conduct in higher education may produce similar inequities and disparities. Researchers studying the experiences of college students of color have documented and described racist and discriminatory interactions with campus police, which suggests that some students may be more likely to become entangled in the student conduct system. Higher education student conduct processes also emulate the judicial systems. Although many institutions have moved away from using legal terms in their student conduct codes in fear the courts will view their processes the same as criminal courts, these updates simply changed the terms used in student conduct codes and did not change the underlying process from mirroring the system. Student discipline in higher education may therefore reinforce racial stereotypes through enforcement of student conduct codes. This can happen as individuals making judgements about a student’s responsibility in a disciplinary system consciously or subconsciously draw upon racial or gender stereotypes that link positive and negative traits of different social groups to their behaviors, which may lead to favoring one group over another in a discriminatory manner regardless of intent. These mechanisms of racial bias are outlined in the theory of racialized judicial decision-making, which provides the conceptual framework for the study.

We use case-level student conduct data to determine if disparities exist at each stage of the student conduct process, from referral to determination of responsibility to sanction. We do by drawing upon administrative data from a racial/ethnically-diverse statewide system of higher education. The dataset includes nearly 30,000 student conduct cases over a five-year period. Using regression methods, we explore inequities by race and gender in higher education discipline processes for behavioral (e.g., harassment; assault; drugs/alcohol) and academic (e.g., cheating; plagiarism) misconduct.

Student conduct has become a critical functional area in the field of student affairs in higher education. This study provides the first systematic, quantitative descriptions of the entire student conduct process in a higher education system, as nearly all existing research focuses on either referrals or sanctions. Existing analyses of these disparities in K-12 education settings and in the criminal justice system suggest that college and university systems are likely to also perpetuate bias, discrimination, and racism through disciplinary processes. This research will provide analysis of the student conduct process from referral to sanction and provide recommendations for the development and design of interventions and policies to reduce disparities in educational discipline programs.