And Justice for All?: The keg that raised a ruckus

Third in a Series College senior Jason Stanard and his roommate were in the wrong place at the wrong time with an empty beer keg. It was three years ago, on the last night of their freshman year, and several of their hallmates in the Quadrangle were "celebrating" with a little underage drinking. Someone at the other end of the hall started a verbal argument with their RA and the RA called the police. When University Police arrived, they searched the hall for alcoholic beverages and saw a beer keg in Stanard's room – a keg that Stanard says he and his roommate had found empty on another floor several weeks before. "It's the most unbelievable story in the world, but it's true," the College senior said. "A few weeks before, someone had left a keg on the floor above us. It was empty and we decided to take it in for the deposit." Stanard says they intended to take the keg in, but one week led to another, and the keg was still in their room. When the University Police officer found it, he took Stanard's PENNcard, telling him it is illegal to have a keg in his room. Stanard went home the next day, but said he heard rumors that his RA was pressing charges against him in the University judicial system. He heard nothing about the incident until three months later, when he was notified by mail that he and his roommate were charged with possessing a keg and "harassing" their RA. Several weeks after his sophomore year began, Stanard says, he received a letter telling him he had to meet with the JIO. When he went to meet with Assistant JIO Robin Read, he was told it was an "information session" so she could better understand what occurred that night. "They said the idea was to sit us down and tell us what happened, but the implication was sit down and tell us what you're guilty of," Stanard said. "They tried to keep everything mysterious. They knew they could get you if you said the wrong thing." Stanard says Read was not interested in hearing his story – about the keg being empty and not really his. All she wanted to know, he says, was what the other students in his hall had been doing. "I told her I would bring in every person on that floor to tell them we didn't serve beer out of that keg, but she wasn't interested," he said. "They didn't care about that. They keep asking us about the people down the hall and what they were doing." Read refused to comment for this article. New JIO Steven Blum says the JIO does not make any presumptions of a student's guilt before a preponderance of evidence is gathered. Stanard says he was told he could have an advisor present, but Read did not stress that it was his right. He says he felt at the time that Read "held all the cards" and that he "didn't have any rights at all." "We knew we had a keg in our room and [Read] kept hanging this over our heads to push us to tell her what happened with the other people on the floor," he said. "They were determined to get somebody." Read, Stanard says, implied that he and his roommate had been responsible for the argument several other students had with their RA down the hall. Stanard says he and his roommate continued to deny this. He was told about the option of taking his case to a hearing, he says, but Read made it sound like an awful experience. "We knew we could go to a hearing, but they impressed upon us that we should settle and that if we went to court it would be nasty," he said. Under Policies and Procedures, having a hearing before a board made up of faculty and students is an option for all students. Blum says students have no obligation to sign a settlement. "A student does not have to ever take [a] settlement," he said. "Students should do what they think is best. If they did violate the rule and they know that, then it might be better for them to take settlement." Stanard decided he would try to settle since he felt he really didn't have a choice. He says Read told him if he went to a hearing, there would likely be worse punishments than if he settled. Blum says he does not know whether or not a panel would issue harsher sanction. "It is always possible that they may decide on a lighter sanction, the same sanction or a harsher sanction," Blum said. "It is possible that board may be harsher, but I don't know that." Policies and Procedures states that "settlement negotiations shall proceed expeditiously." Stanard says it took 10 months for his case to be resolved. In the end, he and his roommate were found responsible for illegally having a keg in their room and were both given a formal reprimand, but no other punishment. Neither Stanard nor his roommate was found responsible for harassing their RA. Even though the incident will not go on his permanent record, Stanard says the whole experience left "a bad taste in [my] mouth." "I was a freshman," he said. "I didn't know what this meant. I didn't know how bad it was. I didn't know if I would get kicked out of residential living or what – and no one ever told me how serious this really was." Stanard said not knowing was the worst part of the whole experience. He said he would have felt better if Read had told him exactly how serious his offense was, instead of insinuating that he and his roommate were responsible for what other students were doing. He said he was never told exactly what his rights were or how he could properly defend himself. Aside from an advisor, who does not participate in the investigation of the case, a student accused has little recourse, Stanard said. During the investigation, the JIO runs the investigation and decides who to question and whether or not complaints are valid. "It's almost like the rules are set up one way, but during the preliminary process, before the formal hearing, anything goes," Stanard said. "The JIO is in complete control. And who could we complain to? They are running the whole process."