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Ad Hoc Committee: Due Process Too Annoying To Bother With.

Ruff is probably wondering where my purported haitus from Teh Internet actually is, but I’ve found I can still get excitable about student politics. Don’t ask why, I think because I need to get out more. In any case, The Ol’ Dirty has a very positive guest commentary about changes to the University’s conduct code. The op-ed comes from some of the fools involved in the creation of the new Student Conduct Code.

Let’s go to the board, shall we:

Currently, a student who is physically abused off campus has no recourse on campus and would have to attend classes with their attacker. By expanding jurisdiction off campus to cover incidents of violence we hope to be able to address this issue.

We have these things called “courts” that are designed to handle violations of criminal law. If a person is convicted by one of these “courts” it is unlikely that he or she will be returning to campus any time soon. If a court fails to convict an individual, that means that for all legal purposes the allegation brought against same is false, at least as a matter of criminal justice. Being that the burden of proof is lower in civil court, alleged victims can seek recompense that way if a criminal court fails to convict. OJ didn’t do it, but he’s still broke.

The other significant issue is the role that lawyers play in the conduct process. The current formal hearing process is modeled on the legal system. A representative from the Department of Justice prosecutes the case on behalf of the University, and the accused student is defended by legal counsel. In the current system, both accused students and any witnesses can be cross-examined — just as they would be in a criminal or civil court. For many of us, the prospect of being cross-examined by a lawyer is enough to keep us from reporting possible conduct code violations or from using the system at all.

Yes, and it is modeled after the legal system for a reason: the legal system, for all its faults, is designed to give the accused as many rights as possible and is built upon the presumption of innocence. I also take issue with their statement later in the same paragraph that prosecuting a case and finding the truth are different. The purpose of a trial is a finding of fact: did or did not the person(s) in question, beyond a reasonable doubt, violate the law(s) in question. Simple concept, really. The implementation is difficult, sure, but the point is that the accused are presumed innocent. That brings me to the next little gem:

The change also levels the playing field as in our current process accused students have free legal representation provided by the Office of Student Advocacy whereas complaining parties — that is, the students affected by the alleged code violation — have no legal representation unless they hire their own attorney. This difference creates a disadvantage to those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

That’s great, except that in any sane legal system the ground between accuser and accused is not supposed to be level. Unless these busybodies want the University to revert to Napoleonic justice, the burden of proof must lie with the accuser. The entire purpose of due process is ensuring the legal rights of the accused. The already low burden of proof in the Student Affairs process (“preponderance of the evidence”, which amounts to basically a 50/50 liklihood of violation) makes it even more important that the accused have all of his/her rights protected. In a world where parodying unpublished materials stored in a public_html directory on a University server constitutes a violoation of the Conduct Code, taking proper legal representation out of the mix removes one of the few levels of protection for the accused.

It is your code. Together, let us create a code that enhances the educational mission of the university and one that provides a safe campus for everyone. If you have any questions or want to attend a feedback session, please e-mail Lisa Freinkel at [email protected].

Here’s my input: burn the thing. Write a simple, clear code that has only to do with academic malfeasance, and leave the rest of it to the grown ups in real court. Stop playing dress-up with justice, and stop infantalizing university students.

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