(1) Bellingham Technical College is an agency of the state of Washington and adheres to all local, state, and federal laws. The college is obligated to demonstrate respect for laws by cooperating in their enforcement.

(2) Bellingham Technical College cannot and will not establish regulations that would abridge constitutional rights.

(3) Proper procedures are established to maintain conditions helpful to the effective function of the college, to protect individual students from unfair penalties, and to assure due process. Bellingham Technical College is granted the right by law to adopt rules to govern its operations.

(4) If these rules are broken, the college has the right and the obligation to take that action which is in the best interest of the entire college.

(5) Bellingham Technical College reserves the right to impose the provisions of this code and provide further sanctions before or after law enforcement agencies, courts, or other agencies have imposed penalties or otherwise disposed of a case. College hearings are not subject to challenge on the grounds that criminal or civil charges involving the same incident have been dismissed or reduced or in which the defendant has been found not guilty or otherwise not liable. In addition, the college reserves the right to refer incidents to the appropriate civilian authorities or law enforcement agencies.

(6) If any provision of this code is invalidated by court order or operation of law, the affected provision of the code will no longer apply.