Georgetown University released its updated student code of conduct for this academic year, detailing a revised citation process for residential living violations and an expanded definition of student organizations.
The university revises its code of conduct, which details rules for community members and disciplinary procedures, before the start of each academic year. The 2025-26 code establishes a formal citation process for housing cases, explicitly defines student organizations as any group with two or more Georgetown students and eliminates public records of conduct violations less than suspension or expulsion.
A university spokesperson said the code of conduct is an essential part of Georgetown’s mission.
“Georgetown’s tradition of Jesuit education honors the worth and dignity of all members of our community,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “An important expression of the values at the heart of this tradition is the Code of Student Conduct.”
“It is the responsibility of Georgetown students to know and abide by the Code of Student Conduct,” the spokesperson added.
Nicole Abudayeh (SFS ’26) — co-director of the Student Advocacy Office (SAO), which advises students on disciplinary proceedings — said the new code of conduct is more transparent than past iterations since the university made explicit policies that were previously implicit.
“We are very much happy with that transparency, and that’s in line with what we want for the student body,” Abudayeh told The Hoya. “That’s a large reason why the code seems so much longer and so different.”
This year’s code doubles the length of the 2024-25 edition as the university extensively detailed definitions, processes and sanctions in ways it previously did not.
With the code of conduct changes, student organizations are defined as any group “in which two or more members are Students enrolled at the University, whether or not the organization is established or recognized as having access to benefits by the University.”
The definition appears in the university’s hazing policy. The university formalized the hazing policy in a nine-page document in June, rather than the single webpage addressing it as seen in an archive of the webpage from March. The previous code of conduct referenced the Student Organization Standards, which only refer to recognized organizations, to define student organizations.
The new definition seems to apply to independent and informal student organizations, which could subject them to the code of conduct “as it applies to individual students,” according to a section in the code.
Madeleine Callender (CAS ’26), the other SAO co-director, said the new definition will have broad implications for student groups.
“An organization, through our understanding, is considered any group, whether recognized or not recognized by Georgetown, that has two or more members that are enrolled as Georgetown students,” Callender told The Hoya. “What organizational misconduct now means is that you can face sanctions as an organization, which are also outlined in the code.”
Callender and Abudayeh said that, as they understood the policy, unofficial organizations such as fraternities and sororities, which are not university recognized yet are composed of only students, would fall under the code.
The code of conduct also introduced a formalized citation process for housing violations, though there are no changes to what constitutes a violation. The severity of a citation depends on the specific violation, with possible violations including excessive noise, unauthorized guests and unauthorized parties.
The new citation process requires residential assistants, community directors or other university employees to submit an incident report for every violation, without any warnings. The incident reports then enter into the formal disciplinary or educational conference process.
James Beit (MSB ’26), who lives in Ida Ryan & Isaac Hawkins Hall, said he received an excessive noise complaint Aug. 29 that he believes was unnecessarily formalized because of the reformed citation process.
“Dealing with this process has been very cold; it’s been very unfriendly,” Beit told The Hoya. “It’s not as transparent.”
Tina Solki (MSB, SFS ’26), a senator for Georgetown’s student government, the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA), said the citation process puts a high burden on residential assistants (RAs) to enforce the code of conduct.
“I feel like the role of an RA is not to be a cop on your floor,” Solki told The Hoya. “It’s not to police you. It’s to remind you of community standards and work to uphold them jointly. It’s not like a one-sided imposition of the rules. It’s guiding us towards communal understanding and respect for them.”
The university also changed its record-keeping rules; sanctions less than suspension or expulsion do not go on a student’s permanent record, meaning they remain internal to university records and are not sent to potential employers or graduate schools.
Abudayeh said it was a “positive change” that balances accountability with preparing students for success.
“As long as you complete whatever sanction you’re given on time and you follow the process and finish your process, you’ll go back in good standing, and the university won’t have anything to report outside, unless you get suspended or expelled,” Abudayeh said.
Callender said she is concerned that students will not understand the new disciplinary process.
“If there is anything that we’re worried about, it is that students won’t have a full understanding of how the process has shifted and therefore will commit to sanctions from the alleged violations of residential living expectations without knowing the possibility of appealing those sanctions,” Callender said.
Abudayeh encouraged students to reach out to SAO, saying student advocates seek to help their peers.
“We know the average Georgetown student is not sitting in Lau reading through these 50 pages making note of what’s changed,” Abudayeh said. “So our role on campus is to be that group of informed peers.”
“We hope that students come to us anytime they get any sort of accusation, whether it’s something as small as a noise complaint, all the way up to something that might lead to a bigger sanction, because that’s what we’re here for,” Abudayeh added.