SAC approves Judicial Board

Members of the Student Activities Committee (SAC) approved initial plans to implement a Student Activites Judicial Board, which is scheduled for completion in Dec. 2001.

The board will handle conflicts between student groups or between student groups and individuals. Students will be able to appeal Judicial Board decisions to the student conduct board.

Administrators and students agree that this will give students increased self-jurisdiction, granting students the power to penalize student group infractions rather than leaving this right to the university .

"Students want to feel that when they do something as part of the group that other students hold them accountable [as opposed to the University]," said Dorothy Sheppard, associate dean of students. "I think that it's something that students felt there was a need for, since we handled a lot of the bigger things that would happen to an organization," such as inappropriate spending.

No specific past incidents led to the decision to create the board, according to Noel DeSantos, chair of the SAC.

"There were no big problems in the past," said DeSantos. "There is no case history that mans the call for this board."

"The board will meet, convene and come out with a solution and be able to hand out punishments," explained DeSantos.

Removal of funding is one example of a punishment that the judicial board could impose, said Sheppard.

The concept of the Judicial Board has been discussed for several years. However, students moved for its actual implementation following the anticipated implementation of an Intrafraternity Council (IFC) Judicial Board, according to Sheppard.

"It's been in the works for a couple of years," said Sheppard. "When we finalized [the idea] for the IFC, I think that other groups wanted something similar."

The Judicial Board will closely mirror the IFC in its processes and functions, said DeSantos.

The board will wield authority, according to DeSantos.

"This board won't only be a paper tiger," affirmed DeSantos. "It'll actually have power."

The formation of the board is part of an initiative to make student government policies more transparent, according to DeSantos. The initial idea was proposed to the SAC general assembly this month and a resolution will be presented during the November general assembly and voted on in the December meeting. This will allow students enough time to discuss and review the proposal.

This will not just be a measure implemented by the SAC Executive Board, said DeSantos.

Dean of Homewood Student Affairs Susan Boswell included a clause describing the proposed Judicial Board in the new community standards and policy manual for this academic year, which discusses a student conduct board with the ability to monitor student conduct. The resulting conduct system will be coordinated by the office of the dean.