Group Accountability Processes

It is our belief that living together on campus is one of the core components of a Stanford education. During your time here, it is our hope that you will: pursue the greater good of the whole community as well as the individuals in it; develop healthy relationships marked by respect, integrity, empathy, compassion and trust; seek reconciliation when your relationships are fractured; learn to be accountable to one another in our daily interactions and in our global responsibilities; and see the development of your integrity as a daily pursuit.

Holding these core beliefs, the university, in partnership with students, created a working group last year to study all aspects of group accountability at Stanford. The working group utilized an online feedback form and hosted multiple focus groups to learn more about how students view group accountability, what group behaviors students find concerning, and how students think the university should intervene to address problematic behaviors when they occur. Students expressed concerns about transparency, a process that took too much time, and a lack of consistency in how concerning behaviors are addressed across groups and residences.  We agree with these concerns and are committed to making changes to improve group accountability on campus. If you want to learn more, check out our recommendations.

What does this mean for our dorms? For the undergraduate residences, the group accountability processes will now apply not only to our fraternities and sororities, but all of our student-led dorm communities. Similarly, the Provost Housing Review process will now apply to all student-led dorms. The Office of Community Standards (OCS) will be working on these processes over the next few months. If you want to be in touch or get involved, please contact Associate Dean of Students and OCS Director Mark DiPerna.