The Office of Student Conduct is the custodian of all non-academic disciplinary records for undergraduate students and alumni of Emory University. Any time a student accepts responsibility or is found responsible for violating the Undergraduate Code of Conduct a record is created and maintained in our office. We comply with the University Policy on the Confidentiality and Release of Information About Students.

We keep all disciplinary records for at least seven years from the date of the incident that led to the creation of the record (i.e., if you were at a loud party in a residence hall and that led to you accepting responsibility for violating the Residence Life policy on courtesy & quiet hours the record would be kept for at least seven years from the date of the party). Records relating to suspension and expulsion are kept permanently.

We do not expunge records. We do not find this helpful to either the university or students. For the university, we need records of past behaviors in order to make the best decision for a student and the community. For students, we have found that outside agencies requesting disciplinary information make clear their intent is to know all disciplinary information, even if a school's policy is to expunge records. Given that fact, we keep records in order to provide accurate information to assist students.

You might have questions about how a disciplinary record may impact study abroad or applications to professional schools. We have specific parts on our website that talk about our experience working with each of these application processes. If you have more questions after reading this please contact us by phone (404.727.3154) or email (conduct@emory.edu).

If you need to check your own disicplinary record or are a staff member at Emory University and have a professional need to check a student’s disciplinary record, please fill out this form.

If you are a student who wishes to disclose your disciplinary record to a third party (parent, advisor, etc) - download and complete our Request to Release Disciplinary Information to Third Parties form. Complete and sign the form and return to the student conduct office. If you have questions about completing this form please contact the Office of Student Conduct (404-727-3154, conduct@emory.edu)

Students and alumni can inspect their disciplinary record at any time. To do so, contact our office by phone (404-727-3154) or email (conduct@emory.edu). You will need to make an appointment with a staff member. We do not make or release copies of disciplinary records, except when it would be impossible for you to view your record in person.

You might feel part of the information in your disciplinary record is inaccurate. In this case, you have the right to challenge perceived inaccuracies. If you would like to challenge a perceived inaccuracy in your disciplinary record please contact conduct@emory.edu with your request. Challenging an inaccuracy in your disciplinary record is not an appeal process and a challenge cannot be used to dispute a finding of responsibility or a sanction issued through the conduct process. Appealing a decision is a separate process, and information about the appeal process can be found in the Undergraduate Code of Conduct.

If need to have information from your disciplinary record sent to a third party such as a law or medical school admission office or a state bar association, you will need to contact the Office of Student Conduct at conduct@emory.edu. A staff member from our office will talk with you to find out what is needed, and we will generate a sample letter for you to review prior to mailing out a final version from our office.

The process of creating and sending a letter takes a few business days, depending on the time of year and volume of work in our office. Please plan ahead when making your request.

The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) will ask you to declare academic and criminal records. Minor infractions that you learn from will not keep you out of medical school, but inconsistencies can be very damaging. Therefore, the guiding principle you should keep in mind as you respond to these questions is that you be completely forthcoming and honest. Any misrepresentation will hurt you far more than the underlying offense.

It is clear from the wording in the common application services' instruction guides that the intent is that you report ANY action, regardless of whether or not the record has been expunged. It is a matter of personal responsibility and integrity how you choose to answer this question. See the exact wording from AMCAS below: 

Institutional Action Medical schools require you to answer this question accurately and provide all relevant information. Medical schools understand that many individuals learn from the past and emerge stronger as a result. Full disclosure will enable the medical schools to more effectively evaluate this information within the context of your credentials. You must answer "Yes" to this question if you were ever the recipient of any institutional action resulting from unacceptable academic performance or a conduct violation, even if such action did not interrupt your enrollment or require you to withdraw. You must answer "Yes" even if the action does not appear on or has been deleted from your official transcripts due to institutional policy or personal petition.

If you are not certain whether or not you have been the subject of an institutional action, contact the registrar, student affairs officer, or other appropriate party at the institution for confirmation of your record.

Applicants who become the subject of an institutional action after certifying and submitting the AMCAS application must inform their designated medical schools that an action has occurred. If you answer Yes, you may use the provided space beneath the question to explain; this space is 1325 characters or approximately one-quarter of a page in length. You will receive an error message if you exceed the allotted space.

Failure to provide accurate information in answering this question or, if applicable, in completing the form provided by the school, will result in an investigation.

Our experience is that when you acknowledge a disciplinary record on a medical school application that school will contact you and request that you obtain an official statement from Emory University on what you disclosed. The Office of Student Conduct provides letters of disciplinary standing to students and alumni at their request. To make a request please contact the Office of Student Conduct by phone (404.727.3154) or email (conduct@emory.edu). Before making your request please check the information on our website about requesting the release of disciplinary information.

For More Information

We recommend you contact an advisor in the Pre-Health Mentoring Office before submitting your application to medical school.

The Center for International Programs Abroad (CIPA) coordinates study abroad applications for students in Emory College. The Gouzieta Business School has its own study abroad programs for students enrolled in that school. Both CIPA and the Business School ask questions about a student's disciplinary history on their application form. For example, CIPA asks the following question:

Has it ever been alleged through an RA or police report or meeting with a University official or hearing board that your behavior violated the Code of Conduct? (This includes any pending appeals or sanctions in progress.)

The application then goes on to explain:

If you answered "yes" to the questions above, please share the details, including the exact date(s) of occurrence(s), violation(s), and sanction(s) completed. Please also include an explanation for any pending appeals or sanctions in progress. CIPA will check the conduct code records all study abroad applicants. The existence of a disciplinary record or current disciplinary sanctions does not necessarily preclude you from participating on a CIPA program, but will be considered in the overall evaluation of your application. Even if you have completed sanctions, the violation(s) will still appear on your record at Emory. If you are in doubt about your conduct record, please consult with the Office of Student Conduct before submitting your study abroad application.

Many students tell us they thought their violation was minor, didn't go on their record, and therefore didn't need to be reported on a study abroad application. All violations of the Undergraduate Code of Conduct (including violations in the residence halls) are a part of your disciplinary record. You should report any violation on your application.

As part of their selection processes, both CIPA and the Business School inquire with the Office of Student Conduct regarding the disciplinary records of their applicants. Giving false or inaccurate information on an application can be an even greater problem than the violation that you failed to mention. The best policy is to be honest. If you have questions about your record and what needs to be report, check with us first.

For more information

If you have questions about conduct and your application to a study abroad program sponsored by CIPA, please contact your CIPA advisor by phone (404-727-2240) or email (cipa@emory.edu).

This information is adapted, with permission, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Pre-Law Advising Office.

When you apply to law school, you will discover that most applications ask you about your undergraduate disciplinary record and your criminal record. The questions are sometimes very open-ended: those about your disciplinary record might ask for information about any time you have been disciplined either for academic or non-academic reasons. Those questions about your criminal record may specifically ask you to describe any incident, even if you were not convicted, were a juvenile, or the record was expunged or sealed.
For example, Emory University School of Law asks the following question on its application:

Have you ever been subject to any disciplinary action, placed on academic probation, or dismissed from any school, college, university, or graduate/professional school, or is any such action pending or expected to be brought against you?

In addition, some schools, including some of the most popular schools for Emory University applicants, require an independent report on your college disciplinary record, called a "Dean's Letter" or "Dean's Certification," which will be compared against your answers.

The first thing you need to know in answering these questions is that minor violations or convictions will not keep you out of law school. On the other hand, misrepresenting your disciplinary record or arrest record will be taken very seriously both by law schools and by the bar admission authority of the state in which you eventually seek to get licensed. Therefore, the guiding principle you should keep in mind as you respond to these questions is that you be completely forthcoming and honest. Any misrepresentation will hurt you far more than the underlying offense.

Non-Academic Discipline

Law school applications ask about both academic and non-academic sanctions. These questions are generally open-ended enough to include everything from a suspension for failure to maintain a minimum grade point average to an RA's warning for violation of the bathroom policy. All end up on your disciplinary record.

You should answer these questions truthfully and completely. If you have any doubts about what is on your disciplinary record, request a copy from the Office of Student Conduct so that you can review it before completing your law school applications. Schools will receive this information independently, and will notice any discrepancy between your answers and those reported by our office.

All disciplinary violations require some kind of explanation on your applications. The explanation should be brief and to the point, and should also take into consideration the seriousness of the offense. You do not need to go into great detail about a noise policy violation for which you received a warning. The law school admission committees do not really care about these sorts of minor violations. Accordingly, "I was written up by my RA for playing my stereo too loud," is sufficient. Your record will reflect that there were no repeat offenses (if that is the case), so you do not need to point that out. Generally, the types of offenses that are considered minor and of negligible importance to law school admissions committees include the following:

Quiet or courtesy hours violations Unauthorized guest in room Minor housing violations (e.g., moving furniture)

Alcohol-related disciplinary violations may be more concerning, but isolated incidents are unlikely to affect your admission. Underage drinking, violation of the open container rules, or having alcohol in your residence hall room are not taken too seriously to the extent that those violations were single incidents and did not result in criminal charges of any kind. A certain amount of youthful indulgence is tolerated.

Academic Discipline

Academic discipline is normally reflected on your transcript, and so the law schools will see it from an independent source. Answering the question on the application is your opportunity to give some context to the discipline. For example, if you dropped all of your classes more than halfway through the semester one year because of some family problems, and were placed on academic probation as a result, this is your chance to tell the admission committee about those extenuating circumstances. If you were struggling for a while for less compelling reasons, feel free to own up to that. Forthrightly acknowledging your mistakes will demonstrate that you have the maturity to move beyond them.

The most serious academic violation is of the academic integrity policy. A finding that you have cheated or plagiarized raises serious questions about your ability to conduct yourself in an ethical manner as an attorney. If you have such a violation on your disciplinary record, you should speak with an advisor in the Career Center to discuss your options.

Our experience is that when you acknowledge a disciplinary record on a law school application that school will contact you and request that you obtain an official statement from Emory University on what you disclosed. The Office of Student Conduct provides letters of disciplinary standing to students and alumni at their request. To make a request please contact the Office of Student Conduct by phone (404.727.3154) or email (conduct@emory.edu). Before making your request please check the information on our website about requesting the release of disciplinary information.

For More Information

Emory University's Career Center assists students with pre-law advising. For more information you can visit the Center's website for pre-law students.