Office of Student Conduct Director: Michele Goldfarb Returning to Law School
September 5, 2006, Volume 53, No. 2	Print Issue

Michele Goldfarb, Director of the Office of Student Conduct (OSC), has returned to the Law School to teach full-time, effective July 1. Ms. Goldfarb is teaching primarily in the Civil Practice Clinic and will continue to assist in the Mediation Clinic, where she has been teaching as an adjunct professor since 1996. Ed Rentezelas, associate director at OSC, will serve as Interim Director of OSC until a search for the next Director is completed.

 “We’re delighted that Michele has agreed to return to the Law School,” said Douglas Frenkel, director of Clinical Programs. “She is a terrific instructor, an expert supervisor of real case fieldwork and a gem of a colleague. I cannot imagine a better member of a teaching team or one with whom I’d rather collaborate on a project.”

Ms. Goldfarb was named to lead the OSC, previously known as the Student Dispute Resolution Center, in 1996, following a year as Interim Judicial Inquiry Officer. She assumed the directorship when a new disciplinary charter was adopted at Penn, one in which she had considerable input, and was largely responsible for implementing it and educating the campus community about the new disciplinary processes.

“Michele has been a steady hand at the helm of OSC,” said Provost Ronald Daniels. “Her keen sense of fairness, balance, and objectivity have made her the perfect person to run this complex, sensitive office. I’m most grateful for her unequivocal commitment to due process, thorough investigation, and thoughtful, measured response.”

During the past decade, Ms. Goldfarb has been responsible for the investigation and resolution of alleged violations of the Code of Student Conduct and the Code of Academic Integrity and for ensuring a fair, timely and consistent disciplinary process. The Office of Student Conduct is also responsible for educating the University community about behavorial standards and about OSC processes. In this capacity, OSC has worked very closely with the student-led University Honor Council. In addition, under Ms. Goldfarb’s leadership, the Office has become an educational resource center for matters of student conduct, crime reporting, sexual violence, alcohol and drug abuse and academic integrity. The office and its staff have had input into every major policy change and task force related to these areas over the last 10 years.

“Michele has done an exemplary job leading the OSC during the past 11 years,” said Deputy Provost Janice Bellace. “Her sound judgment and knowledge of academic institutions and our core values have helped her guide the OSC through some very complex cases. We will miss her and wish her all the best as she returns to full-time teaching.”

Prior to her appointment as director of OSC, Ms. Goldfarb was a clinical faculty member at the Law School from 1992 to 1995. She also served as a Senior Law Clerk for the Hon. Phyllis W. Beck in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania from 1989-1992. She has also served as an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia and an Assistant United States District Attorney in the District of Columbia.

Ms. Goldfarb earned her B.A. in history at Oberlin College in 1972 and attended The American University’s Washington College of Law where she graduated summa cum laude in 1975.