At the last Undergraduate Council of Students meeting of the semester Wednesday, two administrators gave a presentation on changes to the non-academic misconduct disciplinary system that they will propose to the Corporation in February.
Students facing the highest level of charges, which can result in separation from the University, can choose to have a hearing before the University Disciplinary Council or with a dean unless there is a need for an expedited process, in which case the hearing will automatically be administrative.
According to the administrators, Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Margaret Klawunn and Associate Dean of Student Life Yolanda Castillo-Appollonio, only two students over the past five years have chosen to have a hearing with the UDC.
Because students seem to prefer administrative hearings, campus life is trying to make UDC hearings easier and more comfortable for them, Castillo-Appollonio said.
Klawuun and Castillo-Appollonio said they plan to recommend replacing the UDC with a new group called the Student Council Panel, which would include more faculty members on board to help determine sanctions and a quorum of three, rather than five, members for each hearing.
"We wanted to make sure there was a way to get students to choose the panel sometimes," Castillo-Appollonio told the UCS general body.
In addition, Campus Life's proposal would require students charged with sexual misconduct to undergo an administrative hearing, adding another exception to the policy of letting the accused student choose the venue. The Sexual Assault Advisory Board took issue with the current policy of giving the person charged the privilege to choose which type of hearing takes place, Klawunn said. Requiring a hearing with a dean for this type of case would eliminate the problem of choice altogether, she said.
Also at the meeting, UCS President Clay Wertheimer '10 reflected on the accomplishments that UCS committees have made this semester and made suggestions on how to move forward.
"UCS has been very successful and instrumental in making sure student voices are being heard," he told the general body.
The Academic and Administrative Affairs committee, in particular, has enacted some changes that will be visible over the next year. AAA Chair Robert Taj Moore '11 said he is "unbelievably excited" that Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron has approved a pilot program for a sophomore advising system, which the committee had been developing throughout the semester. The committee also has convinced the administration to require professors to post syllabi online during shopping period.
UCS Vice President Diane Mokoro '11 said the ability to get course syllabi online is "one of the things I'm most excited about."
Campus Life Chair Ben Farber '12 said his committee's most significant actions this year included improving satellite gyms, updating the first-year roommate questionnaire, increasing the amount of outdoor seating on campus for the spring and reviewing the structure of undergraduate residential fees. The campus life committee has also been evaluating student lounge usage to determine which ones would benefit most from renovation.
The most significant change UCS has brought about on campus this semester is "to include students in the organizational review process that Brown is undertaking," Wertheimer told The Herald before the meeting. Adding students to working groups on the Organizational Review Committee and creating a student advisory board to provide feedback on ORC's decisions have "had a big impact on how these working groups have been doing," he said.
"I think we've had a great semester and I'm looking forward to next semester and doing even more great work," Mokoro said.
