How is the Office of University Community Standards different from criminal court proceedings?
The Office of University Community Standards is completely independent of criminal proceedings, and procedures under both may take place concurrently. The Office of University Community Standards is administrative rather than criminal, or civil in nature. It does not use technical “rules of evidence” and requires lower standards of proof to reach a conclusion. This lower standard of proof is known as a “preponderance of evidence” and indicates that it is “more likely than not” that an incident did, or did not, occur.
