New coexistence rules and sanctions at Spanish universities

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The law repeals the 1954 Academic Discipline Regulation, a pre-constitutional rule that still applied to students, and creates a new university coexistence system aligned with democratic values.
2. Public and private universities must adopt their own Coexistence Rules, which are mandatory, within one year at most. These must promote equality, tolerance and freedom of expression, and include prevention and response measures against violence, discrimination and harassment.
3. Universities must promote mediation as the preferred way to resolve conflicts and create a Coexistence Commission with equal representation of students, teaching staff and administration and services staff. If mediation succeeds, the disciplinary case is closed.
4. A disciplinary regime is established only for students at public universities, with very serious, serious and minor offenses. Very serious offenses include hazing, harassment, discrimination, and plagiarism or fraud in the Bachelor's thesis, Master's thesis or doctoral dissertation.
5. Sanctions range from a private reprimand for minor offenses to expulsion of two months to three years for very serious ones. For serious offenses, the sanctioning body may propose a substitute educational or restorative measure, such as taking part in educational or cultural activities, never tasks assigned to university staff.
6. The disciplinary procedure is always initiated ex officio by the Rector's office, separates the investigation phase from the sanctioning phase, allows the student to be accompanied by a person of their choice, and is suspended if the acts could be a crime or if the parties choose mediation.

Who it affects

• Students at public universities: They are the main group subject to the new disciplinary regime and the Coexistence Rules.
• Students at private universities: Their universities adopt Coexistence Rules based on this law's principles and may set up their own disciplinary regime.
• Teaching staff and administration and services staff: The Coexistence Rules and anti-harassment measures apply to them, but their disciplinary regime remains governed by their own specific rules.
• Students at Defense, Civil Guard and National Police university centers: The law applies to them for academic offenses not covered by their military or police regime.

Words worth knowing

Novatadas

Hazing: humiliating or violent initiation rituals directed at new students.

Plagio

Plagiarism: copying someone else's work and presenting it as your own.

Mediación

Mediation: resolving a conflict through agreement between the parties, with help from a neutral person, instead of imposing a sanction.

Medidas provisionales

Interim measures: temporary decisions taken while an investigation is ongoing, to prevent harm during the procedure.

Prescripción

Statute of limitations: the maximum time to punish an offense or enforce a sanction; once it passes, it can no longer be done.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries