Discipline

Seminaries hold students to a standard of conduct and academic integrity, and they care deeply about due process — a sanction should be proportionate, consistent, and on the record. The Discipline module gives you a catalog of reasons and sanctions, an advisory progressive-discipline matrix that suggests the right action by how many times something has happened, and a clean trail from "an instructor noticed something" to "the student was dismissed and cannot re-enroll." Nothing is enforced automatically except a single, explicit dismissal flag — every other decision stays in human hands.

Overview

The module has three building blocks, plus an optional instructor-portal reporting flow:

Disciplinary Reason   — the "what happened" catalog (plagiarism, absence, …)
        │  carries a recommended-actions matrix by occurrence number
Disciplinary Action   — the "what we do about it" catalog (warning … dismissal)
        │
Disciplinary Incident — one record of one event, with the action(s) applied

• A Reason is why — a reusable category like Plagiarism or Unexcused Absence. Each reason carries an advisory matrix: "1st time → Verbal Warning, 2nd → Written Warning, 3rd and beyond → Dismissal."
• An Action is what you do — a sanction like Verbal Warning or Dismissal, defined once and reused.
• An Incident ties a reason to a student on a date, records the evidence, and lists the action(s) actually applied. The matrix pre-fills suggestions by occurrence; the adjudicator confirms or overrides.

The only automatic consequence in the whole module is a Disciplinary Action flagged Triggers Program Dismissal: recording such an action on an incident separates the student from the program (through the same separation spine used by withdrawals) and places a hold that blocks re-enrollment. Everything else is advisory.

Settings

Disciplinary reporting from the instructor portal is gated by two switches — both must be on for an instructor to file an incident from a course:

1. Seminary Settings → Instructors create Disciplinary Incident — the global switch. When checked, each course shows actions to report disciplinary incidents at the course and assessment levels.
2. Disciplinary Reason → Instructor Portal — the per-reason switch. Only reasons marked available to instructors appear in the portal report dialog.

If the global switch is off, the portal shows no reporting buttons at all, and all incidents are filed by staff in Desk. The two-switch design lets you turn on portal reporting broadly while still keeping sensitive reasons (say, anything that can lead to dismissal) off the instructor-facing list.

The catalog

Disciplinary Reasons

A Disciplinary Reason (Desk → Disciplinary Reason) is a reusable category of violation. Fields:

• Reason — the name students and staff see (Plagiarism, Disruptive Conduct, Unexcused Absence).
• Category — Academic Integrity, Conduct, Attendance, Financial, or Other. Used for filtering and reporting.
• Description — a catalog description of what this reason covers.
• Instructor Portal — when checked, instructors can pick this reason when reporting from the portal (the second gate described under Settings).
• Requires Assessment — when checked, this reason lives at the assessment level: filing it requires the course enrollment and the specific assessment involved. Use it for things tied to a piece of work (plagiarism on an essay, cheating on an exam). Leave it unchecked for course-level conduct (disruption, repeated lateness).
• Recommended Actions — the advisory matrix (next section).

The progressive-discipline matrix

Inside each reason you list Recommended Actions — rows that map an occurrence number to the sanction you suggest:

Column	Meaning
Occurrence from	First occurrence this row applies to (1 = first offense).
Occurrence to	Last occurrence this row applies to. 0 means "and above" (open-ended).
Recommended Action	The Disciplinary Action to suggest.
Note	Optional guidance copied onto the incident as an outcome note.

A row applies when the student's occurrence number falls between from and to (inclusive), treating to = 0 as "and above." So a classic three-step ladder for Plagiarism (with one verbal and two written warnings) is:

From	To	Recommended Action
1	1	Verbal Warning
2	3	Written Warning
4	0	Dismissal

The occurrence number is computed automatically — it is a 1-based count of this student's incidents for this same reason. The third plagiarism incident for a student lands on the "3 and above" row and suggests Dismissal. This is the heart of the module: repeated minor offenses escalate on their own, without anyone having to remember "wasn't this the third time?"

Advisory, not automatic. The matrix only pre-fills an incident's applied actions. The adjudicator can confirm them, add others, or remove them entirely. The matrix is a recommendation engine, not an enforcement engine.

Disciplinary Actions

A Disciplinary Action (Desk → Disciplinary Action) is a sanction you can apply. The system seeds a starter set you can edit or extend: Verbal Warning, Written Warning, Disciplinary Probation, Suspension, Dismissal. Fields:

• Action Name — the sanction's name (unique).
• Severity — Informal, Formal, Probation, Suspension, or Dismissal. Informational/for reporting.
• Triggers Program Dismissal — the one automatic effect in the module. When an applied action of this type is recorded on an incident, the student is dismissed from the program through the shared separation spine and a re-enrollment hold is placed. By default only Dismissal carries this flag.
• Instructor Action — when checked, instructors may record this action themselves from the portal. Use it for low-stakes sanctions an instructor is authorized to hand out on the spot — chiefly verbal and written warnings that don't need escalation. Leave it off for anything that should go to an adjudicator (probation, suspension, dismissal).
• Is Active — untick to retire a sanction without deleting history.
• Description — what the sanction means.

Two different flags, two different jobs. Triggers Program Dismissal decides whether applying the action ends the student's program. Instructor Action decides whether a classroom instructor (rather than an adjudicator) may record it. A Verbal Warning is an Instructor Action and does not trigger dismissal; a Dismissal triggers dismissal and is not an Instructor Action.

Disciplinary Incidents

A Disciplinary Incident (Desk → Disciplinary Incident) records one event. Key fields:

• Program Enrollment / Student — who the incident concerns (the student is derived from the enrollment).
• Course Enrollment / Assessment — the course (and, for Requires Assessment reasons, the specific assessment) involved.
• Incident Date, Reason, Occurrence number (auto-computed).
• Evidence and Attachment — describe what happened and attach proof.
• Applied Actions — the sanctions actually applied. Rows pre-filled from the matrix are flagged was suggested; each row stamps who applied it and when.
• Status — the incident's lifecycle:
  • Reported — filed, awaiting an action.
  • Action Taken — an instructor-authorized sanction was recorded.
  • Escalated — needs an adjudicator (e.g. the recommendation is a suspension or dismissal an instructor cannot record themselves).
  • Dismissed — an applied action triggered program separation.
• Reported By — who filed it (set automatically when reported from the portal).
• Resolution Description — a narrative of the actions taken.

When you pick a reason and the occurrence number is known, the matrix automatically pre-fills the Applied Actions with the recommended sanction(s), marked as suggestions, with a "confirm or override" prompt. You stay in control: keep them, change them, or add your own.

Reporting from the instructor portal

When the two switches are on, instructors can file incidents without touching Desk. There are two entry points.

Course-level reporting

On a course card (for instructors and moderators) a Report Disciplinary Incident button opens a dialog where the instructor:

1. Picks the student (the dropdown lists the course's enrolled students by name).
2. Picks a reason — only reasons that are Instructor Portal and not Requires Assessment appear here (course-level conduct).
3. Optionally adds evidence and an attachment.

As soon as student and reason are chosen, the dialog previews "This will be occurrence #N" and the recommended action. What happens next depends on the recommendation (see Recording now vs. later).

Assessment-level reporting

While grading a single submission (exam, assignment, quiz, or discussion) a Report Disciplinary Incident for this Submission button opens the same dialog, but with the student and assessment fixed from the submission you are grading — the instructor only needs to choose a reason (here, only Instructor Portal and Requires Assessment reasons appear, e.g. plagiarism) and optionally add evidence. This is the natural place to flag academic-integrity issues the moment you spot them.

Recording now vs. later

After the preview, the dialog adapts to the recommended action:

• If the recommendation is an Instructor Action (e.g. Verbal Warning), the instructor sees two buttons:
  • Report & Record Action — file the incident and record the sanction now (status → Action Taken). Use it when you handle it on the spot ("I spoke to the student").
  • Report Only — file the incident now and leave the action for later (status → Reported). Use it when you want to report and keep grading, or when someone else should decide.
• If the recommendation is not an instructor action — or it would trigger dismissal — the instructor sees a single Report button. The incident is filed and Escalated for an adjudicator to handle in Desk. (The success message confirms it was reported.)

Pending actions (report now, act later)

"Report Only" incidents don't fall through the cracks. Each course's To-Do card shows a Disciplinary — Pending Actions list for instructors, with one row per pending incident (student, reason, occurrence, recommended action) and a Record Action button. Any instructor on that course can record the action — so a grader can report an incident after hours and the professor of record can record the sanction the next morning, or vice versa. Recording the action moves the incident to Action Taken and removes it from the list.

Dismissal: the one automatic effect

If an applied action is flagged Triggers Program Dismissal (by default, Dismissal), saving the incident:

1. Initiates a full program separation for the student through the shared separation spine, with separation status Dismissed and category Disciplinary, effective on the incident date.
2. Places a re-enrollment hold on the student, so they cannot simply re-register, with the incident recorded as the source.
3. Sets the incident's status to Dismissed.

This is deliberately the only enforced outcome — and it requires a human to record a dismissal action on the incident. Disciplinary exits never use the student-facing Withdrawal Reasons taxonomy; the separation carries the Disciplinary Reason in its history and uses a dedicated Disciplinary Dismissal reason only to satisfy the separation record.

Worked examples

Example 1 — Plagiarism, escalating to dismissal

Goal: plagiarism is a Verbal Warning the first time, a Written Warning the second, and Dismissal the third.

1. Create the reason. Desk → Disciplinary Reason → New.
   • Reason: Plagiarism; Category: Academic Integrity
   • Requires Assessment: ✓ (it is tied to a piece of work)
   • Instructor Portal: ✓ (so instructors can flag it while grading)
   • Recommended Actions:
     • 1 → 1 — Verbal Warning
     • 2 → 2 — Written Warning
     • 3 → 0 — Dismissal
2. Confirm the actions exist. Verbal Warning and Written Warning should be Instructor Action = ✓; Dismissal should be Triggers Program Dismissal = ✓ (these come seeded).
3. First offense. While grading the essay, the instructor clicks Report Disciplinary Incident for this Submission, picks Plagiarism, sees "Occurrence #1 — Verbal Warning," and clicks Report & Record Action.
4. Third offense. The same flow now previews "Occurrence #3 — Dismissal." Because Dismissal is not an instructor action, the instructor only gets Report, and the incident is Escalated. An adjudicator opens it in Desk, confirms the Dismissal action, and the student is separated with a re-enrollment hold.

Example 2 — Repeated absences (course-level, report now / act later)

Goal: track unexcused absences so a pattern is visible, with warnings the instructor can hand out.

1. Create reason Unexcused Absence (Category Attendance, Instructor Portal ✓, Requires Assessment ✗) with a matrix: 1–2 → Verbal Warning, 3 → Written Warning.
2. A teaching assistant notices a third absence and, from the course card, clicks Report Disciplinary Incident, picks the student and reason, and uses Report Only (they'd rather the professor decide).
3. The incident appears under Disciplinary — Pending Actions on the course To-Do. The professor of record opens it, clicks Record Action, and the Written Warning is on file.

Example 3 — A sanction an instructor cannot give

Goal: a conduct violation whose recommended action is Disciplinary Probation.

Probation is not an Instructor Action. When an instructor reports it, they only see Report; the incident is Escalated. The dean opens it in Desk, reviews the evidence, and records Probation (or overrides with a different action). The instructor did the reporting; the adjudicator made the decision.

Day-to-day for staff

• File an incident in Desk. Desk → Disciplinary Incident → New. Pick the program enrollment and reason; the occurrence number and recommended actions fill in. Confirm or override the Applied Actions, add evidence, and save.
• Find what needs attention. A list view of Disciplinary Incident filtered by status = Reported or status = Escalated shows the open queue; instructors see their courses' pending items on each course To-Do card.
• Record or change an action. Open the incident, edit the Applied Actions table, and save. Recording a Triggers Program Dismissal action will separate the student — do it deliberately.
• Build a student's history. Filter Disciplinary Incident by student to see every reason, occurrence, action, and status on record.

Quick reference

If you want to...	Do this
Add a new kind of violation	Create a Disciplinary Reason (set Category; tick Instructor Portal / Requires Assessment as needed)
Make warnings escalate automatically	Add Recommended Actions rows to the reason (use to = 0 for "and above")
Add a new sanction	Create a Disciplinary Action (set Severity)
Let instructors hand out a sanction themselves	Tick Instructor Action on that Disciplinary Action
Make a sanction end the student's program	Tick Triggers Program Dismissal on that Disciplinary Action
Let instructors report from courses	Turn on Seminary Settings → Portal Disciplinary and the reason's Instructor Portal
Flag plagiarism while grading	Use Report Disciplinary Incident for this Submission on the submission
Report now and decide later	Use Report Only; record the action later from the course To-Do
Record a pending action	Open the course To-Do → Disciplinary — Pending Actions → Record Action
Dismiss a student for cause	Record a Dismissal (Triggers Program Dismissal) action on the incident
Review a student's record	Filter Disciplinary Incident by student

Related

• Withdrawal & Separation — the spine disciplinary dismissals flow through; how holds block re-enrollment.
• Grading — where assessment-level reporting lives.
• User Roles — who can file incidents, record actions, and adjudicate.