Student conduct cases at Penn spiked during the 2025-26 academic year, according to Penn’s annual disciplinary report.
The document — published on July 31 by the Center for Community Standards and Accountability and the Office of the Associate Vice President for Equity and Title IX Officer — listed 853 total cases, an increase compared to previous years. The occurrences included 329 academic integrity incidents and 379 student conduct incidents.
The annual report — which has been published since 2015 — is supplemented by CSA’s dashboard for semesterly data on cases and allegations, which first began reporting for the fall 2024 semester in response to the University’s antisemitism task force and presidential commission against hate on campus.
In 2025-26, academic integrity cases remained at a similar number to recent years, while student conduct cases rose sharply after a significant decline in 2024-25. CSA executive director Paige Wigginton wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian that the center received “more referrals related to alcohol policy and failure to comply violations as it relates to unregistered events” during the past academic year.
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There were 67 case investigations for “Alcohol violation: Other” and 90 failure to comply case investigations in the 2025-26 academic year, according to the annual report. Across fall 2025 and spring 2026, there were 90 allegations related to unregistered events with alcohol and 89 failure to comply allegations.
CSA recorded 73 case investigations for unregistered parties and events, an allegation category that was created in the past academic year.
“Because we report on allegations not individual cases, if a single event had multiple alleged violations, we count each allegation which reflects each allegation that CSA considers and investigates,” Wigginton explained.
In the 2024-25 academic year, CSA noted zero case investigations for “Alcohol violation: Other” and four for failure to comply. Just one allegation involving an unregistered event with alcohol was made in fall 2024, with none in spring 2025.
According to Penn’s “Alcohol and Other Drug Policy” — last updated in March 2018 — the University requires undergraduate student groups to register events at which “alcohol will be served and consumed” at least 10 days in advance. Undergraduate organizations hosting events with alcohol are expected to have University-approved bartenders and sober host monitors, among other requirements.
In 2024-25, Penn implemented a 100-person capacity limit for fraternity and sorority life events. The University began enforcing the policy more strictly in fall 2025, resulting in student pushback. Wigginton explained that any violations of the policy only partially accounted for the increase in allegations involving student organizations on CSA’s dashboard.
“CSA received more reports related to unregistered events in this past year,” Wigginton wrote. “While CSA considers reports of capacity related compliance, any finding of capacity related violations were in addition to other findings of responsibility in event registration, policy, or other health and safety violations.”
The rise in certain student conduct cases was accompanied by an increase in cases reported by staff members. Across fall 2025 and spring 2026, 326 cases were brought by staff, compared to just 34 for the same semesters in 2024-25 — a low number compared to prior years.
Other student conduct cases in 2025-26 included three for harassment, two for relationship violence, seven for sexual harassment, six for sexual violence, and three for violence or endangerment.
CSA opened two case investigations into hazing in the last academic year — aligning with the January hazing report, which documented incidents involving the professional pre-health fraternity Alpha Iota Gamma and unrecognized group Lotus Society. No new hazing incidents were documented for spring 2026 in the July report.
The University also released updated hazing guidelines last month, adding restrictions and clarifying anti-hazing measures.
For academic integrity violations, 2025-26 case investigations most commonly involved cheating, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, misuse of artificial intelligence, unfair advantage over fellow students, facilitating academic dishonesty, and misconduct during an exam.
Common sanctions for academic integrity included decision mapping, probation, and reprimands. Probation was the most common student conduct sanction.
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Staff reporter James Wan covers academic affairs and can be reached at wan@thedp.com. At Penn, he studies communication and computer science. Follow him on X @JamesWan__.
