Good news for university students: The way for disciplinary penalties to be deleted from the record has been cleared.

A 'warning' disciplinary penalty was given to a law faculty student of a foundation university in Istanbul on June 28, 2019, on the grounds of cheating. The student applied to the university on July 3, 2019, requesting that the penalty be erased from his record. The University Rectorate rejected the request on August 9, 2019. Thereupon, the student applied to the Ombudsman Institution (KDK) on September 17, 2019. KDK made a 'recommendation decision' in favor of the student on March 17, 2020.

The student applied to the university again to implement the recommendation. However, the university did not accept the application, stating that the process in question could be carried out if the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) made a regulation on this issue. The student then applied to YÖK and asked for legislation to be made regarding the deletion of student disciplinary penalties from the record. Since YÖK did not respond to the application, the request was deemed to be implicitly rejected, and then the student filed a lawsuit in the Council of State, requesting the cancellation of the procedures.

'STUDENTS ARE LEFT UNPROTECTED'

The 8th Chamber of the Council of State, which examined the case, determined that there is no clear provision in the legislation regarding how long the disciplinary penalties given to higher education students will be kept in the registry, under what conditions they will be used and when they will be deleted. In the decision, it was evaluated that the students were 'left unprotected' in terms of disciplinary punishments due to this situation.

Pointing out that there should be a reasonable balance between the student's action and the imposed sanction when imposing disciplinary punishment, the department evaluated that "it is not understandable or acceptable that the disciplinary punishments received by university students due to momentary mistakes are kept in student files for almost a lifetime." It was stated that the lack of regulation on this issue is contrary to the principles of legal security and certainty.

ATTENTION WAS DRAWN TO THE ERASABILITY OF CRIMINAL RECORDS

In the decision, it was pointed out that there is a legal regulation regarding the deletion of even criminal records under certain conditions, and it was stated that the legal gap regarding the use and deletion of student disciplinary penalties should not be applied against students. It was noted that disciplinary penalties, which are kept in the registry indefinitely and given to other institutions and organizations upon request, may lead to students' future applications not being accepted and their not having equal rights with other candidates.

REJECTION PROCESSES HAVE BEEN CANCELED