Date of Award
Spring 2026
Language
English
Embargo Period
3-28-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College/School/Department
Department of Educational Policy and Leadership
Program
Educational Policy and Leadership
First Advisor
Mitch Leventhal
Committee Members
Teniell Trolian, Leandra Harris
Keywords
student conduct, code of conduct, higher education, student affairs, judicial affairs, community standards
Subject Categories
Higher Education | Higher Education Administration
Abstract
The student conduct field constantly must balance the legal requirements of the federal and state governments with providing an educational environment for students to learn and develop valuable skills in conflict management, problem solving, and communication. Each higher education institution has a student code of conduct detailing the policies and procedures by which students are expected to abide. These codes of conduct carefully combine the legal requirements and educational goals of each institution’s conduct office. This study analyzed the prevalence of restorative justice practices and other common practices in the codes of conduct at 4-year institutions in the State University of New York (SUNY) system.
Through a document analysis of codes of conduct and survey responses from student conduct administrators, this study found similar practices incorporated into the codes of conduct with the greatest differences being present in the resolution process at each institution. Differences between codes were more commonly attributed to institutional characteristics than institution type in the SUNY system. This study found each code of conduct incorporated some level of restorative justice philosophy; however, only four institutions’ codes of conduct had a restorative justice process or practice incorporated into the code. There were also clear examples of institutional isomorphism present in the 20 codes of conduct analyzed in this study.
License
This work is licensed under the University at Albany Standard Author Agreement.
Recommended Citation
Athens, Alexandra, "Student Codes of Conduct, Institutional Isomorphism, and Restorative Justice: Practice and Implementation in the State University of New York (SUNY) System" (2026). Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present). 392.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/etd/392