Student Body Response to Changes in Student Conduct Procedures at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

In August 2024, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill altered their student conduct processes to have administrators adjudicate violations, rather than the student-led Honor System which had been in place for 150 years. This study aims to investigate how this change has impacted the student body, including their knowledge of resources, educational outcomes, trust in the process and administration, and any connection to national trends in university governance policies.  To do so, three focus groups and three interviews were conducted in Spring 2026. The participants completed surveys before they engaged in the discussion. Qualitative analysis of their responses gave four main take aways: distrust in the University, conduct changes are perceived to be connected to protests on UNC’s campus, students value equitability and student involvement in a process, and knowledge about the process is limited and mostly comes from peers. Conduct processes often have life-long consequences for students, so giving administrators critical information to make those processes just and educational, is an endeavor which could influence each person who encounters student conduct and the culture of campuses across the nation.