Penn Editorial 4.27.12

The Student Code of Conduct has been clarified - not changed, but clarified. Students can face consequences for violations of the Code of Conduct that take place when they are not physically at IUP - over a break, while studying abroad or away on an internship, after they’ve committed to attend but before they have arrived as freshmen.

First of all, as stated here and in the article on page nine, this does not actually change anything.

However, it makes students aware of an important reality: that we act as representatives of IUP even when we are not here. And that maybe we have to do even better at representing IUP when we’re not.

After all, with 15,000 of us here at IUP, just one person being an assclown isn’t going to change too many people’s opinions on the university as a whole.

There are too many of us, here all the time. That’s just statistics.

But when we’re away, chances are that we’re one of few, if not the only, IUP students in our general area - the only one that whoever we’re interacting with has met.

And while we can’t approve of the judgment of anyone who decides that an entire university is filled with assclowns just because the only person they’ve ever met from there is, in fact, an assclown, it’s something to watch out for. But when you’re the only person around, the reputation is all on you.

And while it’s somewhat disquieting, to remain under the jurisdiction of an institution that may be hundreds, even thousands of miles away, what actually is the difference?

There is no geographic statute of limitations to good behavior. The action is the same, and you are still a student. Why should the consequences IUP can enforce be any different?

Also, being a representative of an entire group, whether or not you’re physically present, is one of the things that the real world is made of. You and your actions reflect upon everyone and everything you’re associated with.

Kind of scary, isn’t it?