Witness Testimony

The Hearing Office has developed a video titled “Testifying in a Student Conduct Hearing”. This video shows parts of the testimony of one witness in a fictionalized student conduct hearing. This video will demonstrate the primary elements of what it is like to testify in a student conduct hearing. Potential witnesses and parties are invited to view the video if they wish to better understand how witness testimony works and what to expect at a hearing. Viewing the video is optional and is not required for anyone.

This video shows a small part of a fictionalized hearing. Please note that the video does not show every part of the hearing process. Viewers should feel free to skip forward to the parts they want to watch.

Note: The background of the fictionalized case involves a report of stalking and assaultive behavior. Viewers can mute or skip past the section that describes the fictional report of this conduct. The video will provide audio and visual cues about the background section starting at about 03:56. It is not necessary to hear about the background of the fictional case to understand and view what the video shares about how witness testimony functions at a hearing.

Below is an overview of the key parts of the video:

Chapter

Time

Content

1. Introduction

0:00

Provides an overview of the video and background information on hearings.

2. Fictional Case Background

1:55

Describes who is at the fictional hearing and the fictional case scenario.
The background details of the reported conduct are talked about from 03:56 to 05:10.
Fictional Witness Kay is introduced at 05:28.

3. Beginning of Witness Testimony

5:50

Hearing Officer reviews the process with Witness Kay and then starts asking Kay questions about what Kay knows.
Kay is asked questions about a document.

4. Questions from a Party for the Witness

9:37

Explains the process for a party proposing questions for a witness.
Shows a party proposing questions for Witness Kay along with objections and decisions about the proposed questions.

5. End of Questioning and Summary

13:08

Shows end of questions for Witness Kay.
Shares more points on witness testimony and how to get more information.

Here are a few points to consider before and after watching the video:

If you have limited time, watch parts 3 and 4 to observe the witness’s testimony.
The process for asking questions of a witness in a conduct hearing at the University varies depending on the type of hearing. If you are a party or a witness in a student conduct matter, or in an employee matter, the process shown in this video might not be exactly the same as the process that will be used for the matter you are involved in.
The video shows basics of witness testimony, including questions from the Hearing Officer and proposed questions from a student party. These basics might be helpful to see even if the process you might be involved in will be different.
If you are going to be involved in a hearing, feel free to reach out to the Hearing Office to ask about the type of process that will be used for asking questions of witnesses in the hearing. The Hearing Office can let you know if it differs from what is shown in the video, and if so, what those differences are. Please feel free to reach out to hadmin@uw.edu and hearofcr@uw.edu.

Jesimiel Jenkins, Finn Jordan, Chinelo Okpala, and Avery Sund provided the voice work for the characters in this video. Thank you for your work. The Hearing Office would also like to thank John Hogl and Jon Beck for their work on this project, which included creating the visuals for the video.