Characteristics of student offenders at Michigan State University: A comparison of selected demographic characteristics using a baseline population

The purpose of this study was to address the methodological concerns related to research on student discipline and to up-date the studies which had been previously conducted at Michigan State University over twenty years ago.;Based upon the results of the proportional analysis one can conclude that there appears to be some relationship between the variables of class standing, gender, place of residence, and academic college for those enrolled in the Undergraduate University Division for the offender group. Ethnic status was found to be insignificant. Ethnic minorities are no more or less apt to violate university rules and regulations than their Caucasian counterparts. The type of offenses that occur most frequently are those in the individual and alcohol categories. Student offenders also had significantly lower GPAs than the baseline population.;The methodology used in this study included the identification and comparison of several demographic characteristics of student offenders and the undergraduate student population for 1987-88 which was used as the baseline comparison group. The variables under study included class standing, place of residence, academic college, gender, ethnic status and grade point average. A random sample consisting of 184 student offenders was drawn from the judicial files of students who had admitted guilt or been found guilty of violations at Michigan State University for academic years 1986-87, 1987-88, and 1988-89. The data on the student offender group were compared to the baseline population and analyzed using proportional analysis which entailed calculation of z-scores to test whether there existed any statistically significant differences between the two groups. Proportional analysis was also performed for differences between repeat offenders and the baseline population. Chi-square analysis was performed controlling for type of offense by gender to determine whether there were any differences in the types of violations committed by males and females. Chi-square analysis was also used for the analysis of type of offense by place of residence. The t-statistic was used to determine the significance of grade point averages for the two groups.