By Daniel Johnson, Sports Editor
At least four ACU students in the Study Abroad program in Oxford, England, were sent home after violating the behavior contract all participants sign before beginning the program.
The students were dismissed from the program earlier in the semester after a disciplinary committee Ð made up of the professors of the program and on-site director Ron Morgan Ð made a disciplinary recommendation to Kevin Kehl, executive director of the Center for International and Intercultural Communication, and other university officials.
Kehl said he and the other officials decided the violation warranted dismissal from the program.
“There were some students that failed to abide by the behavior contract, and there were consequences related,” Kehl said.
University officials would not release the names of the students, how many students were dismissed and why they were dismissed because of the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which prohibits all-schools that receive the U.S. Department of Education funding from disclosing student records.
According to the Study Abroad Behavior Contract, which all students sign before studying abroad, seven offenses may result in dismissal from the program: substance abuse, sexual promiscuity, theft, illegal use of computer lab and/or Internet such as copying or possessing copyrighted materials, assault, making threats against another individual or any violation of any local law.
Kehl said the decision was based on the overall safety of the Study Abroad community in Oxford, and by violating the behavior contract, the students violated that safety.
“If you look at the list of those things that are grounds for dismissal, what’s behind them are the safety of the students,” Kehl said. “It’s about the safety and well being of all the students as well as the individual.”
Kehl said that the students were dismissed only from the Study Abroad program and not the university. The students are able to return to ACU if they choose next semester and Judicial Affairs will handle any other punishment at ACU.
“I hope that every person involved in ACU study abroad comes back next semester,” Kehl said.
Whether the students receive credit for the courses they began at Oxford is up to the program’s professors, Kehl said. The four professors for Oxford this fall were: Dr. Paul Moris, professor of physics; Janine Morgan, adjunct professor of Bible; Jacqueline Holten, adjunct professor of history and Dr. Ron Morgan, assistant professor of history.
The Study Abroad office also sent 10 students to the Montevideo, Uruguay, campus and will send 36 students to Oxford and 18 students to Uruguay in the spring.
Dismissal from the program isn’t as rare as some may believe, Kehl said.
“It has happened occasionally in the past five years,” Kehl said. “But it’s not like we send people home every semester.”
Kehl is optimistic that the disciplinary actions taken by the university and program officials will help dispel rumors that rules at Study Abroad are loosely enforced.
“The actions speak here,” Kehl said. “I think that what took place hopefully communicates our concern about student activities that involves their well being and safety.”
