The Disciplinary Committee: Explained 

Riley Thibodeau ‘23 

From forgetting to wear a tie to committing plagiarism,  EA students often subvert the Episcopal’s codes of conduct on various scales of severity. To deal with this, Episcopal has several committees in place to hear about disciplinary infractions, deliberate, and suggest repercussions and restorative courses of action. The committee is composed of teachers from multiple disciplines, and a student representative from the sophomore, junior, and senior class..  

The Disciplinary Council is part of a four-tier system to handle student infractions. The first tier, recently added, is the Integrity Council, which includes a student’s advisor, form dean, the Director of Health Services (Laura Hurst), Father Gavin, Director of Diversity and Inclusion Ayinde Tate, and one of the school’s psychological counselors. For a first time offense, a student goes to this council, unless the infraction is deemed severe enough to go directly to the Disciplinary Committee. Jennifer Maier, Chair of the Disciplinary Committee, explains that, “The focus of the Student Integrity Council would be to educate them on why their behavior was detrimental to the community, and how to make amends.” Though the Integrity Council is made up of just faculty, on the Disciplinary Committee there are student representatives as well.

Some students are glad that their peers are on this council, such as Gaeli Keffer-Scharpf ‘23 who states, “I appreciate that the Disciplinary Committee is both students and teachers, because they can give insight into what a student may be going through that adults alone would not have.” 

Dakin Ebmeyer ‘23, the junior representative, agrees with her, remarking, “When it is just adults, they may not exactly understand what the student is experiencing, and so it can be helpful to have someone who understands their perspective.” 

The second and third tiers occur after a student’s second and third behavioral infractions. When the case is presented before the Disciplinary Committee, there has already been a predetermination of guilt. When the committee hears a case, the student may make a statement, the committee can then ask questions. Following this, the members deliberate, then offer a suggestion for repercussions to Michael Letts, Head of Upper School. 

Eric Mundy, Upper School Math Teacher and faculty Committee Member, explains that members try their best to understand the students perspective by asking themselves questions such as, “What did this student do? Was there intent here or was this a mistake? Was this something that arises in normal mistakes that teenagers make? What can I do to help this student in the future to not do this?”

The fourth tier occurs for a student’s fourth major infraction. Maier elaborates,  “If there is a fourth major student infraction it would bypass the Disciplinary Committee and there is a determination that will be made by the form deans and the Head of Upper School.” These tiers are designed with the understanding that sometimes students make mistakes, and it is important to face consequences, but also learn from those mistakes, and move forward. 

While the Disciplinary Committee has the role of allotting repercussions and helping students grow, confidentiality remains a key part of the process. Maier states that, “at numerous times throughout the year we reinforce that there is complete confidentiality when a student comes before the Disciplinary Committee. We reinforce that to the faculty members and the student members on the committee, and I think that everyone takes that very seriously.”

Mahliat Tamrat ‘23 comments, “I think that it is good that there is a committee in place to enforce the rules, but that also ensures the confidentiality of the students. I feel like that offers more room for the student to grow and learn instead of them focusing on how people around them know what’s going on.”