(a) The State-operated institutions of State University are located at diverse campuses throughout the State which differ in size and character.

(b) The trustees of State University recognize the need for local participation, flexibility, and responsibility at the various campuses with respect to the establishment of regulations governing student conduct and behavior.

(c) The trustees recognize that among the goals to be pursued by the State University is the encouragement of the independence, maturity and ethical sensitivity of the student, and that this can best be achieved where the educational program is complemented by an appropriate pattern of student governance which respects freedom of inquiry and expression and is administered in accordance with due process.

(d) Section 356 of the Education Law recognizes the need for local participation on the diverse campuses by establishing councils for each State-operated institution, with power to make regulations governing the conduct and behavior of students.