Council to discuss Judicial Charter

Continued debate about the proposed Student Judicial Charter and reports from the president and provost on the proposed Perelman Quadrangle student center will be the focal points of today's University Council meeting. The agenda also includes interim reports from Council's Admissions and Financial Aid, International Programs and Student Affairs Committees, as well as a presentation on benefits for professional staff members. Provost Stanley Chodorow said he anticipates "a deep discussion" of the issues raised by the draft Judicial Charter, including its basic principles and their consequences. "I also expect faculty to raise questions about the relative authority of faculty and students in the process," he said, adding that the issuance of grades by faculty members in cases where cheating is alleged may also be debated. "I expect the discussion of the Charter to be substantive and intense," Chodorow said. "I look forward to it." A final point of contention between Chodorow and members of the Student Committee on Judicial Reform who worked to create the revised Charter is whether the findings of its hearing boards will be final and binding decisions, or simply recommendations to the provost or his designZe. In a statement distributed to Council members this week, Chodorow said he respects "the absolute authority of the board as a judge of fact," but believes that "the officer who has to defend the decision should have the authority to make it." However, Chodorow later concedes that he "may have put too much weight on the University's liability." He also suggests in the statement an expanded role for the deans in the new judicial system and confirms his commitment to allowing respondents to have advisers from outside the University present during judicial proceedings. But the Charter as it now stands would not permit these advisers to speak -- a provision that concerns College senior and Undergraduate Assembly member Dan Schorr, who chairs the First Amendment Task Force. Schorr said earlier this week that he and UA Chairperson Dan Debicella plan to introduce a resolution at today's Council meeting asking for a return of the proposed Charter to committee for revisions that would protect complainants' rights. But Debicella said last night that he and Schorr are requesting revision of the Charter for different reasons. Chodorow said he expects comments, but not controversy, during discussion of the Perelman Quad proposal. The Council meeting, which will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Quadrangle's McClelland Hall today, is open to the public.

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