The purpose of this study was to examine the grades and demographic characteristics of students involved with the residence hall disciplinary process during the 2005 fall semester at Ball State University. These characteristics were studied to determine if differences existed in the academic performance and demographic characteristics of disciplinary students and the general residence hall population. Differences between the disciplinary sample and residence hall population were found to exist. Freshmen and sophomores in the disciplinary sample achieved lower mean grade point averages. Freshmen and males were over-represented in the disciplinary sample. / Department of Educational Studies

The purposes of this study were to determine the current philosophical considerations and practices of Residential Life disciplinarians in the United States and to compare these to the philosophical considerations and practices suggested for current use by experts in the field.

Despite an abundance of studies on the characteristics of college students described as campus disciplinary offenders, few studies have attempted to investigate the reasons why certain students end up as violators of campus social policies. The purpose of this study was to construct and test a causal model of college student disciplinary status. Containment Theory, Control Theory, and Involvement Theory served as the theoretical foundation of the study. Variables in the model were operationalized from the College Student Experiences Questionnaire. Data were collected from a sample of students classified as campus disciplinary offenders by the residence life office judicial system of a large land-grant university and from a sample of non-offenders at the same institution. The data were analyzed using path analysis procedures. Results indicated that there was only partial support for the linear causal model tested. Important findings were: (a) background variables directly affected disciplinary status, a finding consistent with previous research, (b) the model did not work differently for males and females, (c) students' satisfaction with their choice of college directly impacted on disciplinary status, (d) students' perceptions of the campus interpersonal environment and their personal vocational gains indirectly effected disciplinary status when mediated by the satisfaction with their college choice. In general, person-environment fit was proposed as the factor having an overall effect on disciplinary status. It was suggested that further testing of the model should occur and that a reciprocal causal model, rather than a linear model, might yield more information about the factors influencing disciplinary status for certain college students. / Ed. D.