Rules of Conduct  

The Fellow is expected to, at all times while acting in an official capacity as a College Corps Fellow:

1. Comply with the rules and standards of their community host organization

2. Demonstrate mutual respect toward others

3. Follow directions

4. Direct concerns, problems, and suggestions to your program coordinators, at collegecorps@humboldt.edu or (707)826-5454

The Fellow understands that the following acts also constitute a violation of the Program's rules of conduct:

1. Unauthorized tardiness 

2. Unauthorized absences 

3. Repeated use of inappropriate language (i.e., profanity) at a service site 

4. Failure to wear appropriate clothing to service assignments

5. Stealing or lying

6. Engaging in any activity that may physically or emotionally damage other Fellows of the program or people in the community(see Civil Rights & Harassment Policy section XI in your Fellow Service Agreement)

7. Unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensation, possession, or use of any controlled substance or illegal drugs during the term of service

8. Consuming alcoholic beverages during the performance of service activities

9. Being under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, or illegal drugs during the performance of service activities

10. Failure to notify the program of any criminal arrest or conviction that occurs during the term of service

Release from Term of Service:

The Fellow understands that they may be released from their service term for the following reasons:

1. The Program may release the Fellow for cause: a release for cause encompasses any circumstances other than compelling personal circumstances that warrant an individual's release from completing a term of service. This includes both release for misconduct and for a Fellow deciding to leave the program. Programs must release for cause any participant who is convicted of a felony or the sale or distribution of a controlled substance during a term of service.

• Fellow who is released for cause may not receive any portion of the education award or any other payments from College Corps or College Corps partner campuses.

• A Fellow who is released for cause must disclose that fact in any subsequent applications to participate in another College Corps program. Failure to do so disqualifies the individual for an education award, regardless of whether the individual completes a term of service.

• A Fellow who is released for cause may contest the decision by filing a grievance with their campus. Pending the resolution of a grievance procedure filed by an individual to contest a determination by a program to release the individual for cause, the individual's service is considered to be suspended and should not receive any financial benefits.

• An individual's eligibility for a subsequent term of service in College Corps will not be affected by release for cause from a prior term of service so long as the individual received a satisfactory end-of-term performance review for the period served in the prior term.

• For AmeriCorps Fellows, a term of service from which an individual is released for cause counts as one of the maximum 4 terms of service, unless the Fellow is released for reasons other than misconduct prior to completing 15%of a term of service

2. RELEASE DUE TO COMPELLING PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES: The Program may release a Fellow from their term of service for compelling personal circumstances if the Fellow has completed at least 15% of their required hours and demonstrates circumstances beyond the Fellow’s control that prevent the individual from completing their term of service. Fellow should consult with their Program point of contact for more information or to request exit from the Program. Compelling personal circumstances include circumstances that are beyond the participant's control, such as, but not limited to:

1. A participant's disability or serious illness;

2. Disability, serious illness, or death of a participant's family Fellow if this makes completing a term unreasonably difficult or impossible;

3. Conditions attributable to the program or otherwise unforeseeable and beyond the participant's control, such as a natural disaster, a strike, relocation of a spouse, or the non renewal or premature closing of a project or program, that make completing a term unreasonably difficult or impossible.

AmeriCorps is a federal program and enjoys bipartisan support. Under the Serve America Act, it includes many rules and regulations, including what are called Prohibited Activities. 

In order to maintain broad support nationally, activities that are particularly politically sensitive were excluded from being an allowable part of member service. These also apply to any staff on the grant while charging their time to the grant. These activities are also connected to the Hatch Act which governs federal employees' activities while on the clock.

Members and program staff are still free to do these on their own time!

Prohibited Activities:

“While charging time to the AmeriCorps program, accumulating service or training hours, or otherwise performing activities supported by the AmeriCorps program or the AmeriCorps agency, staff and members may not engage in the following activities (see 45 CFR § 2520.65):

1. Attempting to influence legislation; 

2. Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; 

3. Assisting, promoting, or deterring union organizing; 

4. Impairing existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements; 

5. Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office; instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization;

6. Participating in, or endorsing, events or activities that are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials;

7. Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization;

8. Providing a direct benefit to — 

• • A business organized for profit

  • A labor union

  • A partisan political organization

  • A nonprofit organization that fails to comply with the restrictions contained in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 related to engaging in political activities or substantial amount of lobbying except that nothing in these 9 provisions shall be construed to prevent participants from engaging in advocacy activities undertaken at their own initiative, and

  • An organization engaged in the religious activities described in paragraph above, unless AmeriCorps assistance is not used to support those religious activities

9. Conducting a voter registration drive or using AmeriCorps funds to conduct a voter registration drive

10. Providing abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services 

11. Such other activities as AmeriCorps agency may prohibit.”

Individuals may exercise their rights as private citizens and may participate in the activities listed above on their initiative, on non-AmeriCorps/California Volunteers's time, and using non-AmeriCorps/California Volunteer's funds. Individuals should not wear the AmeriCorps/California Volunteer's logo while doing so.