51The University administration encouraged the student government on Monday to meet with University Senate leaders before its March 6 press conference, which will outline what some ASUO members think are large problems with the Student Conduct Code’s content and revision processes.
Students and administrators discussed the code at a meeting of the Associated Students’ Presidential Advisory Council, which advises University President Dave Frohnmayer of student concerns and the general campus climate.
ASUO President Adam Walsh said several parts of the conduct code revision process concern his administration. The code is a manual that documents disciplinary procedures for students who break local, state or federal laws on or off campus or violate University policies.
Walsh said he was displeased that a student was improperly appointed to the University Senate’s ad hoc committee, a group the Senate created outside the conduct code review committee.
The situation is “exponentially problematic” because not only was the student not appointed by the ASUO Executive branch, but that student was put on the committee after being removed by last year’s ASUO president, Walsh said.
“The proper process was completely overlooked,” Walsh said.
“It was gray as to whether they would ask us or not,” Walsh said after the meeting. “It’s not necessarily in the rules but they definitely should have.”
Dave Hubin, the executive assistant to the president, said the University Senate ad hoc committee was created to speed up the process of revising the code. The University has been revising the code for more than 10 years. But he agreed with Walsh and said “ideally the process should involve students.”
Frohnmayer said the real issues are authority and accountability. He said the University Senate is not happy with the long length of the process. Under the University charter, the University Senate “thinks it has authority over student conduct,” he said. “What we see is a political frustration to get the document drafted.”
“The real issue is to break out of deadlock,” Frohnmayer said.
Another problem was that several changes were made by the University Senate ad hoc committee after the regular conduct code committee met, Walsh said.
“(There are) things in the code that weren’t actually discussed by the original committee,” Walsh said.
ASUO Vice President Kyla Coy said that the ASUO executive branch will hold a press conference on Monday at 4 p.m. in the Fir Room to protest the new revisions.
Coy said that several portions of the document are vaguely worded and defined, which could open up the code to differing interpretations. Coy said phrases such as “adjacent sidewalks” and “right to an attorney” seem to just “shovel all the power back to Chris Loschiavo,” the director of Student Judicial Affairs, instead of the Student Code of Conduct committee.
ASUO Student Senate Ombudsman Jared Axelrod added that the language is hard to understand and the average student will not be able to interpret the document.
Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Mike Eyster recommended the ASUO Executive meet with University Senate leadership either before or on the day of the March 6 press conference and try not to “let this go into the 11th or 12th year” of revision, he said.
ASUO Executive Treasurer Nick Hudson, who did not attend the meeting but has been on the conduct code committee for three years, said after the meeting that the press conference will go on. The main issues are that the conduct code, in its present state, has unintended consequences, reduces students’ rights and limits shared governance between the University administration and the ASUO, which “is the recognized student voice,” Hudson said.
Hudson has invited all of the University Senate members to attend and learn what’s wrong with the current document “and why it should be sent back” to the committee, he said.
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