Hi, Hello, it’s J-Board! An Introduction
Welcome or welcome back! If you haven’t already heard about the honor principle, you absolutely will at some point in your Reed career. The Honor Principle™ is a uniquely Reed concept that (allegedly) governs our interactions with each other and behavior within our community. An interpretation from the Community Honor Resolution written in the year 2000 mentions that any action that causes unnecessary pain or discomfort to any member of the Reed community, group within the community, or to the community as a whole, is a violation of the Honor Principle.
Ultimately, this is just one interpretation. Left purposefully undefined, the Honor Principle allows for individual interpretations of honor and accounts for shifting community norms. Isn’t that sweet? A functioning Honor Principle is an ideal that requires some serious buy-in, and leaves a lot in the communities hands.
“Remember, the Honor Principle is only a weak force if no one insists that it be upheld. I’m not suggesting that you Honor Case anyone who looks at you funny, but if someone is causing you serious problems, stop idly b**ching and consider adjudication.” ~ J-Board Quest Article circa 1980s
As we all know, bad things do, in fact, happen at Reed. If talking it out doesn’t work and informal mediation with the Honor Council is not an option, J-Board is the adjudicating body that is supposed to clean up when honor fails. J-Board is Reed’s confidential* student adjudication body that determines policy violations, recommends sanctions, and really tries to uphold Honor™. And, unlike other student accountability groups, the J-Board process is not optional, meaning that even if a party chooses to not participate, the process will still move forward.
The Judicial Board consists of up to twelve students appointed by the Senate Appointments Committee. This year’s board includes Kiana Fields ‘25 and Nicole Chan ‘25 as co-chairs, and Kes Vounzi, Prasiddhi Thapaliya ‘25, Palloma Araujo ‘26, and Reed Jadzinsky. There are no admin, staff, or faculty on the board! However, there is a committee of advisors to help us with administrative duties (and ordering food :D) which includes: Keith Karoly, Lucas Illing, Sam Fey, Claudia Ramírez Islas, and those that they hire for Assistant Dean of Student Rights and Responsibilities! Members attend weekly training sessions related to Reed’s judicial process, trauma-informed investigation, bias, sanctioning, international student perspectives, and more. These training sessions are also open to community members and are hosted on Thursdays, 5:00pm–7:00pm in the Aspen Multi-Purpose Room.
Okay, back to honor: Anyone can file an Honor case! This includes your lovely peers, staff, faculty, anyone who believes a student has violated the Honor Principle while they were a community member (this includes alumni)! Filing a complaint looks like an email to the co-chairs detailing what happened, what part of the event you think violates the Honor Principle, parties names (including who was involved in the interaction and witnesses) and why the problem couldn’t be resolved through mediation. You can also always meet with the co-chairs or one of our staff/faculty advisors for help filing the complaint, we are here to help!
J-Board does more than Honor Principle violations, we also adjudicate student violations of college policies like Academic Conduct, AOD, and more. Minor academic misconduct and AOD violations can typically be wrapped up through formal mediation with professors, your Area Coordinator, etc, but if there is disagreement on what went down or more serious violations, the case goes to J-Board.
***Warning! New changes to some college policies!*** With the new Title IX regulations, J-Board will no longer be hearing Sexual Misconduct Cases regarding incidents occurring after August 1, since so much of the Discriminatory Harassment and Sexual Misconduct (DHSM) policy has now been absorbed with Title IX. With these new regulations, we will only be involved in sanctioning if a Title IX investigation prompts us to that part of the process. But!!! If you have an incident that occurred before August 1, we will follow previous Title IX guidelines and form a Sexual Misconduct Board to hear cases relating to the DHSM. Also (if not complicated enough, *tears*) if you have a DHSM complaint that occurred prior to August 1, it will go through the Title IX process, but will be evaluated using the DHSM code that was in place prior to August.
While the J-Board process can sound really scary and it’s true that no one really enjoys hearing from us, having a group of peers adjudicating student cases rather than administration is kinda nice! This idea of emphasizing student perspectives and honor, rather than administrative control and policy places a lot of trust in our community. This process allows for consideration of subjectivity and extenuating circumstances, both in determining violations and in recommending outcomes. Yippee!
This can all be a little confusing so we’ve compiled some FAQ for ya:
What about my rights?!
You have rights! So know them! (Seriously, know them, you never know when you need it!) Direct parties, or the complainant and respondent of the case, have the right to be present at the hearing and hear what each side has to say about events and also call on witnesses. Parties also have the right to respond to what has been said after each side has shared. Anyone involved in a hearing has the opportunity for a support person, called a second (yippeeee). You can always be involved in a hearing through written testimony if you don’t feel comfortable speaking in person. You always have the ability to refuse to answer any questions in a hearing. At the end of each hearing, direct parties will receive a copy of J-Board’s recommendation.
What if I want to file a case against a staff or faculty member?
Back in the day you could file a case against a staff or faculty member…nowadays (boo) you file complaints against faculty members either to the Dean of Faculty or Director of Human Services/any VP, and complaints against staff members go to the Dean at the college.
What if I want to JBoard a JBoard member? *goofy*
If you file a complaint against a J-Board member, we will ask them to step down temporarily while the case is in progress and other members will form a board for the case. :)
Is JBoard confidential?
Yes, J-Board is confidential!!! (with a couple of asterisks). All cases and information handled by J-Board are confidential and not to be shared with Reed community members or other institutions. The only caveat is if we are involved in legal proceedings that require us to disclose information. We are not confidential in the sense that if we receive a complaint regarding Title IX violations of any sort we are mandated to report these types of complaints to the Title IX coordinator. However, this does not mean a case is started, but you will be connected to resources from the Title IX Coordinator. Additionally, we regularly publish summary statements with anonymized findings and sanctions to keep you all informed of what we’re up to, without violating confidentiality.
What happens if I'm not content with JBoard’s recommendation? (womp womp)
You can appeal our decision with the Appeals Board if you are not content with our recommendation! There are three possible reasons you can appeal: Either we made a mistake and deviated from the code, we were too casual or intense about sanctions, or there is new evidence that could change the outcome of the case (dun dun dun!).
What if I want to file a case but idk if it’s actually a violation?
If you are not sure if a case is actually a violation, come talk to us! (don’t be shy!) Our office hours and emails are below, and we are always flexible to talk over email or Zoom if you feel uncomfortable. Sometimes you may even feel more comfortable talking to a staff member, so if you choose to do so, please meet with the Assistant Dean of Student Rights and Responsibilities (to be hired :/).
Feel free to stop by our co-chairs’ office hours in the J-Board office (GCC 102) every Monday, 5:00–6:00pm. If those times don’t work for you or you want to file a complaint then email both co-chairs (kfields-jboard@reed.edu and nicolexc-jboard@reed.edu). We are more than happy to answer any questions/hypotheticals or just chat about processes and Honor at Reed <3
Does any of this sound interesting, peculiar, or provoking to you? If so, you’d be a great candidate for J-Board! We are constantly looking to hire members of the community to ensure our board represents the student body well across classes, disciplines, and perspectives. Apply via Handshake, look out for AppComm emails, or ask us!