/Institutions/Coker-University/json/2025-2026/Student-Handbook-local.json

/Institutions/Coker-University/json/2025-2026/Student-Handbook.json

A Who Can Serve as an Advisor

The Parties may each have an Advisor (friend, mentor, family member, attorney, or any other individual a party chooses) present with them for all meetings, interviews, and hearings within the resolution process, including intake. The Parties may select whomever they wish to serve as their Advisor as long as the Advisor is eligible and available. Parties have the right to choose not to have an Advisor in the initial stages of the Formal Grievance Process, prior to a hearing.

 

The Senior Director of Student Experience and Title IX Coordinator will offer to assign a trained Advisor to any party. If the Parties choose an Advisor from the University’s Resolution Process Pool, the University will have trained the Advisor and familiarized them with the University’s Formal Grievance Process.

 

The University cannot guarantee equal advisory rights, meaning that if one party selects an Advisor who is an attorney, but the other party does not, or cannot afford an attorney, the University is not obligated to provide an attorney to advise that party. However, all institutionally appointed Advisors will be provided with similar training.  

 

If the Parties choose an Advisor from outside the Resolution Process Pool, the Advisor may not have been trained by the University and may not be familiar with University policies and procedures.

 

A party may elect to change Advisors during the process and is not obligated to use the same Advisor throughout. Parties are expected to provide the Senior Director of Student Experience and Title IX Coordinator with timely notification if they change Advisors. If a party changes Advisors, consent to share information with the previous Advisor is assumed to be terminated, and a release for the new Advisor must be submitted.

 

The University may permit Parties to have more than one Advisor, or an Advisor and a support person, upon special request to the Senior Director of Student Experience and Title IX Coordinator. The decision to grant this request is at the Senior Director of Student Experience and Title IX Coordinator’s sole discretion and will be granted equitably to all Parties.