ADVOCATE USER MANUAL

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Table of Contents
Helpful Tips....................................................................................................................... 4
Advocate Vocab ............................................................................................................... 4
Academic Dishonesty....................................................................................................... 5
Incident Intake ........................................................................................................................................................... 6
Checking Student History ..................................................................................................................................... 6
Reply to Professor..................................................................................................................................................... 7
Creating Incident Report – Academic Dishonesty ...................................................................................... 7
Notifying the Student .............................................................................................................................................. 9
Notification Only ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Closing after notification ............................................................................................................................................................................ 10
Notification and Disciplinary Charges ................................................................................................................................................ 10
Complainant Communication & Steps..................................................................................................................................................... 10
Respondent Communication & Steps ...................................................................................................................................................... 11

Respondent Accepts Responsibility ................................................................................................................. 14

Adding Sanctions on Advocate ................................................................................................................................................................... 14
Respondent Letter .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
Complainant Letter ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 15
Closing the Incident ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Respondent Denies Responsibility OR Declines to Respond ................................................................. 16
Respondent Accepts Mediation Offered by Complainant ...................................................................... 16
If Response Deadline Passes with No Response from Student ............................................................. 17
Hearing Process ....................................................................................................................................................... 18
Sanctions..................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Appeals ........................................................................................................................................................................ 19
Close Incident ........................................................................................................................................................... 20
Inappropriate Student Conduct .................................................................................... 21
Notification of Incident ......................................................................................................................................... 21
Creating an Incident Report – Inappropriate Student Conduct .......................................................... 21
Complainant Correspondence........................................................................................................................... 22
Respondent Correspondence ............................................................................................................................. 22
Adobe Forms .................................................................................................................. 23
Log-In Information ................................................................................................................................................. 23
Complainant Form ................................................................................................................................................. 23
Respondent Form ................................................................................................................................................... 24
Downloading Signed Forms from Adobe ...................................................................................................... 25

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Using Zoom .................................................................................................................... 26
Meeting Agenda Sample ................................................................................................ 27
Notes about Meetings ........................................................................................................................................... 27

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Helpful Tips
Bookmark the important links
o Advocate: https://ccri-advocate.symplicity.com/index.php/pid638354?
o Adobe: https://documentcloud.adobe.com/us/en/ (this is the link to log in. once you’ve logged in once,
bookmark that page.)
o Username:
o Password:
o Zoom (I recommend downloading the app to your computer): https://ccri.zoom.us/
o Webex Teams (Also recommend downloading the app): https://teams.webex.com/signin

Create a designated folder for files that need to be uploaded to Advocate

o Makes it much easier to find files when you save them
o You can also create one for files that have been uploaded so they don’t get mixed in, or just delete
them once you’ve put them in Advocate

Refer to previously sent emails or letters in old incident reports if you don’t know how to word something
o Not all communication comes from a letter template, so look through the Dean of Students email or
similar incident reports for past communication if needed

Utilize the notes for updates to each case

o Notes are incredibly useful for summarizing meetings and keeping track of what progress has been
made in a case. Use them after you meet with complainants or respondents, to keep track of how many
times someone has been contacted, to indicate when/why a case is closed, or really anything else
related to the case.

Advocate Vocab
Pending all new, created incident reports go to this category; incident reports stay in Pending unless
charges are added
Processing incident reports are moved here if and when charges are added

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Academic Dishonesty

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Incident Intake
1) Notifications come in via email, typically in three ways:
a. The Dean of Students account is CC’d on an email from the professor to the student
b. The professor directly emails the DOS account to tell us what the situation is
c. Starfish notification is submitted by the professor

2) Save the email as a PDF or Word Doc (Print > Save as PDF)
a. Name the file what it is (Email from Professor, Starfish Notification) and include the student’s
last name so it’s easily identifiable when you go to upload it

3) Be sure to include any attachments as well.

a. Pictures of an assignment, essays, etc.

Checking Student History

1) On the Advocate home page, search any of the following to find the student:
a. ID Number
b. Last name first name (no comma)
c. First part of their email (ex: sstclair, mjcunningham2)

2) Find and select the student’s name

a. If you find that there is more than one student with the same name, find their ID number or
email and search with that instead. If you don’t have that information, connect with the
professor.

3) Choose the tab that says “Incidents”

4) Verify their academic dishonesty history

a. Under “Incident Type”, look for “Academic Dishonesty”

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Reply to Professor
1) Follow up with the professor to provide academic history and identify course of action
a. For academic history – no details necessary:
i. If a student has no incidents “The student has no previously reported incidents of
academic dishonesty.”
ii. If a student has incidents “The student has (#) previously reported incident(s) of
academic dishonesty in our system.”
b. Explain process and ask how they want to proceed
i. Let them know the student will be notified, and that they have the opportunity to file
formal disciplinary charges as well.
ii. Need this information before you can email the student so that you can send the correct
letter.

Sometimes the professor will have already indicated whether or not they want to verify the student’s history or
whether or not they want to file disciplinary charges. Starfish reports require this information, and some
professors include it in their emails. It’s always good to confirm to be 100% sure if it isn’t clear.

Creating Incident Report – Academic Dishonesty

1) Click “Create Incident Report” on the home page

2) Incident Type: “Academic Dishonesty”

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3) Clery Charges: “No”

4) Date and Time of Incident: Input the date/time you received the notification from the professor

5) Location of Incident: if it is an in-person class, choose the campus; otherwise, choose “Online Class”
a. If you aren’t sure, check with the professor
b. Room Number/Additional Location Information is not necessary, but if you have anything you
can put it here

6) Victims/Complainants: Professor’s name

a. Last name first name (no comma) or ID number
b. Make sure you click the name (should look like this when it is selected correctly)

7) Students Involved: Student’s name

a. Last name first name (no comma) or ID number
b. Make sure you click the name (see above)

8) Other Involved Individuals: Skip

a. Almost never need to use this, unless there’s an issue with the previous two boxes

9) Student Witness(es): Skip

10) Other Witness(es): Skip

11) Incident Description: Brief summary of the violation

a. Include the grade penalty that was assigned (if you have that information)
b. You can also copy and paste from the professor’s email
c. Example of common Incident Descriptions:
i. Professor reported that the student used outside source on an exam, student received a 0.
ii. Professor reported that the student plagiarized information on an essay and the student
received a 0.
iii. Professor reported that the student posted homework questions on Chegg.

12) Course: Write out the course

13) Term: Write in the semester

14) Grade Penalty Assigned?:

a. Clarify with the professor if you do not have this information yet, then answer accordingly

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 15) Sensitive: No

16) Attach documents/Upload:

a. Upload PDF/Word Doc of the email from the professor/Starfish notification, and any additional
files included in the report.

17) EMS/Police/Alcohol/Drugs: All three – “No” (unless they are involved)

Notifying the Student

THE NEXT STEPS DEPEND ON HOW THE PROFESSOR IS
RESPONDING – SEE FLOW CHART FOR REFERENCE.

Notification Only
1) Open the incident report you just created

2) Click the “Letters” tab

3) Click “Create New Letter”

4) Select “AD - Notification of Academic Dishonesty on File” letter template

5) Edit letter as needed:

a. Change “(xxxx)” to professor’s last name
b. Add any additional information as required

6) Click “Show Plain Text”

7) Click “Copy HTML Text to Plain Text”

8) CC anyone if necessary (in Email Letter To)

9) BCC yourself
a. To keep track of letters that have been sent, and as an additional check that it sent correctly.

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 10) Click “Online preview”
a. Make sure you have spelled everything correctly and that all the fields auto-populate correctly.

11) Click “Email Letter Now”

12) Double check that it sent

a. Says it on the list of letters once they’ve sent
b. Also go to “Event Log” tab to see that it sent correctly.

Closing after notification

1) Open Incident Report

2) Go to “Notes” tab

3) Click “+Add New Note”

4) Subject – Closing Notes

5) Body – “Professor is not filing formal charges, no further action

required” or something along those lines

6) Click “Submit”

7) Return to the “Core Information” Tab

8) Locate the “Other Actions” button and click it

9) Select “Close Incident” from the bottom of the drop-down menu

10) Hit submit

Notification and Disciplinary Charges

Complainant Communication & Steps
1) Send email to the professor letting them know they’ll receive the complainant form shortly, and
describe their two options for how they want to respond

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 2) Send the complainant form to the professor and wait to get it back
a. See “Adobe Forms” section

3) Once the professor has completed the complainant form, check how they want to respond and
download the document from Adobe

4) Open the incident report

5) Click “Documents” tab

a. Upload new document > upload the complainant form

6) Return to the “Core Information” tab and select “Add Charges” from the “Possible Next Steps”
box
a. Article IV, Section B > Item 1
b. Submit

7) On the “Core Information” tab, select “Process Incident” from the “Possible Next Steps” box

Respondent Communication & Steps

1) Click the “Letters” tab

2) Create new letter

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3) Select “AD - Notification of Academic Dishonesty Charge” letter template

4) Edit letter
a. Input professor’s last name in all required spaces
b. Edit last paragraph of letter to include – response deadline, staff contact info, and
timeframe for availability.
c. Add any additional information as required

5) Click “Show Plain Text”

6) Click “Copy HTML Text to Plain Text”

7) CC anyone if necessary (in Email Letter To)

a. Ex – if more than one staff member is meeting w/ the student, you can CC them on the
letter

8) BCC yourself
a. To keep track of letters that are sent, and as an additional check that it sent correctly.

9) Online preview
a. Make sure you have spelled everything correctly and that all the fields auto-populate
correctly.

10) Email Letter Now

11) Double check that it sent

a. Says it on the list of letters once they’ve sent
b. Also go to “Event Log” tab to see that it sent correctly.

12) Schedule meeting with the student and set up Zoom meeting
a. May take a couple tries depending on their availability
b. CCRI’s default settings should be good – as long as they have the link it will let them in

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13) Send the student the meeting information
a. NOT in a calendar invite – you can do that, but make sure you also send it separately in
an email
b. Highlight the meeting link, the date & time, the meeting ID, the password, and the phone
number for the right time zone

14) Determine hearing date

a. Usually done at the conduct team meeting prior to your meeting with the student to
determine potential hearing date & time

15) Prep the Respondent Checklist

a. See “Adobe Forms” section for that step
b. Send during the meeting

16) Meet with the student

a. Staff should join 15 minutes before the actual meeting time to go over the case
information, make sure everyone’s on the same page about what’s going on with the
student
b. Review the incident with the student, have a conversation w/ them about their side of the
story and what happened
c. Remind student that this process does not impact the academic penalty applied by the
professor, and if they want to appeal the grade, they have to go through a separate process
d. Send and review the respondent form and explain the options they have to move
forward/potential outcomes of each (i.e. sanctions, hearing timeline, etc.)
e. Have student complete the form and confirm that Conduct staff has received it before
ending the meeting

17) Let the student know when they can expect to hear a response
a. Either a sanction letter or a hearing notification

18) Download respondent form from Adobe and upload to Advocate (See “Adobe Forms” section for
details)

19) Add a new note under the “Notes” tab

a. Briefly summarize the conversation you had with the student and what the outcome of the
meeting was

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Respondent Accepts Responsibility

Adding Sanctions on Advocate

1) At the following conduct meeting, discuss the potential sanctions for the respondent

2) Once sanctions are determined, open the incident report on Advocate

3) Click “Enter Decision” under the “Possible Next Steps” banner

4) Where it says “Responsible For:”, select the “Article IV, Section B > Item 1”

5) Where it says “Rationale”, type “Student accepted responsibility”

6) Decision date: either the date of the conduct meeting or the date of your meeting with the student

7) Eligible for Appeal: No

8) Click “Save & Add Sanction”

9) Add Sanction information as needed

10) Click “Submit”

a. Don’t use “Save & Add Letter”, the letter template you need does not come up when you
do that

Respondent Letter
11) Go to “Letters” tab and create a new letter

12) Select “Accepted Responsibility – Sanction Summary”

13) Edit letter template

a. Include meeting date and complainant name
b. Replace the “(----)” with a brief description of sanction
i. Ex: “You have been sanctioned to an academic probation through December 31,
2021.”

14) Click “Show Plain Text”

15) Click “Copy HTML Text to Plain Text”

16) BCC yourself

a. To keep track of letters that are sent, and as an additional check that it sent correctly.

17) Online preview

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 a. Make sure you have spelled everything correctly and that all the fields auto-populate
correctly.

18) Email Letter Now

19) Double check that it sent

a. Says it on the list of letters once they’ve sent
b. Also go to “Event Log” tab to see that it sent correctly.

Complainant Letter
1) Create a new letter under the “Letters” tab

2) Select “Accepted Responsibility – Complainant”

3) Delete the respondent’s name from recipients and add the complainant’s name
a. Click the “X” next to respondent name
b. Type in last name first name of complainant and click their name

4) Edit letter template

a. Include meeting date and respondent name
b. Only include sanction information if the complainant needs to know
i. Ex: If the respondent is sanctioned to not take a professor’s class in the future,
include that. If the respondent is sanctioned to probation, do not include that.

5) Click “Show Plain Text”

6) Click “Copy HTML Text to Plain Text”

7) BCC yourself
a. To keep track of letters that are sent, and as an additional check that it sent correctly.

8) Online preview
a. Make sure you have spelled everything correctly and that all the fields auto-populate
correctly.

9) Email Letter Now

10) Double check that it sent

a. Says it on the list of letters once they’ve sent
b. Also go to “Event Log” tab to see that it sent correctly.

Closing the Incident

1) Open Incident Report

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 2) Go to “Notes” tab

3) Click “+Add New Note”

4) Subject – Closing Notes

5) Body – “Complainant and respondent have both been notified of case outcome, no further action
required.” Or something along those lines

6) Click “Submit”

7) Return to the “Core Information” Tab

8) In the “Possible Next Steps” banner, click “Close Incident”

9) Hit submit

Respondent Denies Responsibility OR Declines to Respond

1) Before the meeting is over, review any deadlines they may need to be aware of
a. Ex: 48 hours before hearing date is when all documentation must be submitted
b. Respondent advisor can also schedule a follow-up meeting for some time before their hearing
date to go over how they want to present their case and make sure they submit documentation
on time

2) Proceed to hearing process

Respondent Accepts Mediation Offered by Complainant

1) Determine when mediation would be (if you don’t already have that information). Also identify who
will be the mediator for the incident.

2) Send mediation notification to the complainant + respondent with Zoom information, if applicable.

3) Following the mediation, add a note to the incident report to summarize/document the mediation and
the agreed resolution.

4) Schedule and hold any additional mediation sessions if necessary to find a resolution.

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 5) Add closing note (if needed)
a. The summary notes from the mediation may be enough to use as a
closing note depending on the situation.

6) On the “Core Information” Tab, locate the “Other Actions” button and click
it

7) Select “Close Incident” from the bottom of the drop-down menu

8) Hit submit

If Response Deadline Passes with No Response from Student

1) Download a PDF of the letter you sent to them
a. On the incident report, go to “Letters” tab
b. Open the letter
c. Select “Generate PDF”, which should automatically download a copy of the letter

2) Send an email from the DOS account with the letter attached
a. Mention in the email the date that the original letter was sent, and that there are academic
dishonesty charges that must be addressed.
b. Provide updated availability for when you can meet with them and give them another
response deadline, usually about 48 hours after you send the email.
c. Include that this email is their second of three total notifications that they will receive
before the process moves on without the benefit of their input.

3) Set priority to High and include delivery & read receipts on the email.

4) Repeat this process if they don’t respond for a second time.

a. In the third email, indicate that this is their third and final notification, and if they do not
reply, the process will continue without the benefit of their input

5) If, after the third email, they do not reply, proceed to the hearing process
a. This step may include sending a respondent form to the student when the hearing
notification is sent out, so that they may have an opportunity to review their rights and
responsibilities prior to the hearing (if they decide to participate) – See “Adobe Forms”
section

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Hearing Process
1) Send hearing notification to Complainant AND Respondent
a. Use hearing notification templates for each party
b. Input dates for document deadlines
c. Edit last paragraph as necessary (if they have a meeting scheduled with their advisor already
versus if they need to/should schedule one)
d. Include either registration for hearing link OR the hearing link itself
e. CC the DOS staff member assigned to the party

2) After 48-hour deadline, upload any new documentation or information sent in by either party to the
incident report on Advocate
a. Download any emails as PDFs, save any attachments, etc.

3) Using the “Hearing Notification: Reminders & Documentation” letter template, copy and paste the text
of the letter into an email and email the complainant, respondent, advisors, and hearing chair with the
hearing packet attached
a. Since Advocate doesn’t let you attach unique documents, so copy the text into an email and
send it to all parties.
b. Updated time/date/location – include Zoom information as needed

4) Prepare hearing script and decision matrix for the hearing chair/hearing board

5) At the start of the Zoom meeting, create breakout rooms for complainant & advisor / respondent &
advisor / hearing chair & advisor.

6) After the hearing, collected signed copies of hearing script & decision matrix from hearing chair and
upload to Advocate

Sanctions
1) Click “Enter Decision” under the “Possible Next Steps” banner

2) Where it says “Responsible For:”, select the correct code (“Article IV, Section B > Item 1”)
a. If hearing chair didn’t find them responsible, skip this step

3) Where it says “Rationale”, use what the hearing officer/chair determined were the reasons for finding
the respondent responsible OR not responsible for the violation

4) Decision date: The date of the conduct meeting

5) Eligible for Appeal: Depends on the case outcome

6) Click “Save & Add Sanction”

a. Or just click “Save/Submit” if the student is found not responsible

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 7) Add Sanction information as needed

8) Click “Submit”
a. Don’t use “Save & Add Letter”, the letter template you need does not come up when you do
that

9) Select “Hearing Decision Letter - Complainant” letter template

10) Edit letter

a. Input any necessary information, such as the reasons for the finding
b. Only include sanction information if the complainant needs to know
i. Ex: If the respondent is sanctioned to not take a professor’s class in the future, include
that. If the respondent is sanctioned to probation, do not include that.

11) Click “Show Plain Text”

12) Click “Copy HTML Text to Plain Text”

13) CC anyone if necessary (in Email Letter To)

14) BCC yourself

15) Online preview

a. Make sure you have spelled everything correctly, that all the fields auto-populate correctly, and
that it looks good.

16) Email Letter Now

17) Double check that it sent

a. Says it on the list of letters once they’ve sent
b. Also go to “Event Log” tab to see that it sent correctly.

18) Repeat process with “Hearing Decision Letter – Respondent” letter template
a. Include the details about their sanctions, deadlines, and any specific requirements as needed

Appeals
1) Look out for any appeal letters if applicable
a. Send information to Vice President if a party does appeal the decision

2) If appeal deadline passes with no request for appeal, add closing notes
a. “Appeal deadline has passed with no request, no further action required.”

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Close Incident
I. Close incident

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Inappropriate Student Conduct
Notification of Incident
Might come in as a report from college police, an email from a student/staff/faculty member, a public report,
or as the result of something else (i.e., failure to comply)
• Save any emails, reports, or attachments as needed

Creating an Incident Report – Inappropriate Student Conduct

1) Click “Create Incident Report” on the home page

2) Incident Type: “Inappropriate Student Conduct”

3) Clery Charges:
a. Choose “Yes”, then review the scenarios that would indicate Clery Charges. If there are none
that apply to this incident, change the response to “No”

4) Date and Time of Incident: either from an email, police report, or other form of notification/description

5) Location of Incident: look at description of incident

a. Room Number/Additional Location Information is not necessary, but if you have anything you
can put it here

6) Victims/Complainants: Whoever reported the incident

a. Last name first name (no comma) or ID number
b. Make sure you click the name (should look like this when it is selected correctly)

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 7) Students Involved: Student’s name/whoever is being reported
a. Last name first name (no comma) or ID number
b. Make sure you click the name (see above)

8) Other Involved Individuals: Skip

a. Almost never need to use this, unless there’s an issue with the previous two boxes

9) Student Witness(es): Skip

10) Other Witness(es): Skip

11) Incident Description: Brief summary of the violation

12) Sensitive: No

13) Attach documents/Upload:

a. Upload any and all documentation related to the incident (police reports, emails, etc.)

14) EMS/Police/Alcohol/Drugs: Review the report, and answer appropriately for the incident

Complainant Correspondence
• send letter through advocate to complainant to schedule meeting
o may also explain via phone or email what their options are outside of advocate (just download
any correspondence or add note to system to track what you’ve done)
• set up adobe form and send to them to complete
• download completed form and upload to advocate
• let them know next steps (connecting with respondent, will send update based on how respondent
decides to proceed)

Respondent Correspondence
• send letter through advocate to notify of complaint and schedule meeting
o special circumstances may call for the inclusion of a No Contact Directive (letter template
exists)
• schedule meeting
o details about # of outreach times and what to do if they don’t respond
• identify potential hearing date
• set up adobe form and send to them to complete during the meeting
• download completed form and upload to advocate
• based on how they decide to respond:

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Adobe Forms
Log-In Information
Email:
Password:

Complainant Form
Sign into Adobe Acrobat Pro

Select “Request Signatures”

1. Prior to sending this form, you should have already emailed the complainant letting them know what
the difference between the formal hearing & informal mediation options is, offering to meet with them,
and letting them know that they should be receiving the form shortly. You do not have to meet with a
complainant, but always offer it to them. They usually don’t take you up on the offer.

2. Input the complainant’s email address, subject line, and a brief message containing the instructions for
the form.
a. Subject Line: First Initial, Last Name – Complainant Form
b. Instructions – (copy & paste)
i. Please review and complete the Complainant Form. You will be asked to initial next to
each statement, select your choice for the process, and sign the form. Be sure to use the
“Draw” option for your signature at the end of the form.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Conduct and Civility Staff at
deanofstudents@ccri.edu.

3. Click “Add Files” > Templates > Official Complainant Form > Next

4. Click “Send” in bottom right corner

5. Complete the necessary fields for prefill

a. Respondent’s name
b. Whatever the charges are

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 i. Select “N/a” for the second line if there is not a second charge
c. Assisting staff member’s name
i. Whoever is sending the form/meeting with the complainant.

6. Then hit “Click to Send” on the bottom of the screen.

a. You’ll receive a confirmation email that it sent, and another when the complainant signs the
form.

Respondent Form
Complete the same steps, just using the respondent’s information, the “Official Respondent Form” template,
and including the hearing date.

This form is completed during your meeting with the Respondent so you can review their options with them.

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Downloading Signed Forms from Adobe
Once the forms have been completed, there are two ways that you can download the forms.

1) After the complainant or respondent has completed their form, the DOS email gets a notification that
the document has been signed.

2) Select the blue link, “the document” from that email.

3) This will open Adobe and bring you to the signed form. On the right side of the screen, locate the
“Download PDF” option – click it and it will download the signed form.

4) Then, head to the Incident Report to upload it to Advocate under the “Documents” tab.

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Meeting Agenda Sample

MM/DD

[Respondent’s Name] ([Complainant’s Name]) – pending/processing

• Notes about case
o Things to do

[Respondent’s Name] ([Complainant’s Name]) – pending/processing

• Notes about case
o Things to do

[Respondent’s Name] ([Complainant’s Name]) – pending/processing

• Notes about case
o Things to do

[Respondent’s Name] ([Complainant’s Name]) – pending/processing

• Notes about case
o Things to do

[Respondent’s Name] ([Complainant’s Name]) – pending/processing

• Notes about case
o Things to do

[Respondent’s Name] ([Complainant’s Name]) – pending/processing

• Notes about case
o Things to do

Questions/Comments/Concerns
• General conduct stuff/things to do

Notes about Meetings

• Always start with oldest case to newest case (processing to pending)
• Start compiling notes the day or two before the weekly meeting – helpful to keep track of where each
case is as the week goes on
• Make separate agendas/documents for each week in case you need to go back to look for something or
have a question about work that was already done with a case

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