The Binghamton University Student Code of Conduct may be revamped in time for the fall 2009 semester, officials say.
Milton Chester, director of Judicial Affairs, compiled a Judicial Quality Team to propose recommendations for the way the office should handle student life.
“The team is composed of nine people: two staff members from Residential Life, two staff members from Judicial Affairs, two undergraduate resident assistants, one University Police Department officer and one representative from the Student Association,” Student Association Vice President for Academic Affairs Peter Spaet said. He is also a member of the Judicial Quality Team.
According to Spaet, the team has been meeting since February and has come up with several reforms to the Student Code of Conduct. The goal is to move toward a student-friendly code, he said.
Two of the specific changes recommended by the committee have received strong support in the Student Assembly prior to ever being discussed by the Judicial Quality Team, Spaet said.
The two reforms that are being proposed are referred to as “standard of evidence” and “transferred culpability.” The current code book only requires a “preponderance of evidence” for a student to be found responsible in a hearing.
The Judicial Quality Team has recommended that this be changed to the equivalent of “clear and convincing evidence,” Spaet said. In short, this would require a higher standard of evidence to be met in order for a charge against a student to be upheld, he said.
In terms of transferred culpability, the current code of conduct has a provision which allows students to be held responsible for violations merely by being present when a policy is violated.
“One of the proposed changes for next year would remove this clause, meaning that a student could only be charged if he or she is an active participant in the violation, as opposed to just for being present when the violation occurs,” Spaet said.
The Judicial Quality Team does not have final say on the Student Code of Conduct, however, according to Spaet and Chester. The Binghamton University Council must give final approval of the recommendations.
“I believe that several of the proposed changes are very strongly in the students’ interests and will do more to protect their liberties on campus,” Spaet said.
Chester has been at BU for eight years and said he believes students have many places to go for judicial concerns and issues here. He also recalls “failure to cooperate” as being one of the largest judicial issues he’s encountered at BU.
“We are continually evaluating and improving what needs to change, and this team is a part of that process,” Chester said.
According to both officials, students will find out the results of the Judicial Quality Team’s recommendations, as well as if the changes will be implemented in the Student Handbook, on Friday, April 18, 2009.