In response to hate crimes that occurred at MU in recent years, Missouri Students Association’s Multicultural Issues Committee and the Office of Student Conduct are working to add a clause to the student conduct code that would target discrimination.

“The code of conduct is system-wide, and all four campuses have to be on the same page, so there’s a lengthy process that we must go through,” said Donell Young, senior coordinator of the Office of Student Conduct.

Young said he has been working with his counterparts at other UM System campuses, and they will be putting the finishing touches on the new clause soon. Their changes have not yet been approved.

“Our next step is we want our university general council to make sure (the policy) complies with law, and they need to approve it as well,” Young said. “We have a meeting coming up within the next couple weeks.”

MSA President Eric Woods said because the conduct code applies to all MU schools, changing it is a daunting task.

“The problem with the conduct code is that to revise it, it has to be approved on a system level, so the board of curators has to approve it, which is why it’s such a catastrophe to get anything done,” he said.

Young said he hopes the addition will be informative for students.

“We want transparency because we hope that (when) students are aware of the rules and understand what they can get in trouble for, that will prevent students from breaking the rules,” he said.

The code of conduct does not address discrimination.

The M-book, which is specific to MU, does include a notice of non-discrimination, but MCI Chairwoman Lakeisha Williams said she believes it needs improving.

“It doesn’t present (specific) information,” she said.

Young and Williams are working on fixing that as well.

“As of right now, it doesn’t say anything about discrimination due to sexual orientation or if you’re transgender or disabled in any way,” Williams said. “The M-book hasn’t been revised since 1989, so it’s really just the act of updating things to reflect the way society is now.”

Young said revising the M-book will be much easier than revising the conduct code.

“I don’t think there will be roadblocks,” he said. “It’s just an initial paragraph, honestly, is what I want to add. It’s nothing earth-shattering or anything of that nature.”

Young said the racist graffiti message at Hatch Hall and the cotton ball incident outside of the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center in 2010 jumpstarted the policy change.

“The students have been very adamant about the incidences that have (happened) in the past few years,” he said.

Woods said though he does not believe discrimination is a problem on campus, the policy changes are very important in that they demonstrate that the university does not tolerate discrimination.

“I don’t see it as a means to address a current problem, more as a means to deal with problems that may arise in the future,” he said.

**Correction:**

A quote from Lakeisha Williams incorrectly stated that the M-book non-discrimination policy does not include sexual orientation and disability. The policy does include both sexual orientation and disability.