Faculty Senate discusses judicial charter

After a one-hour discussion yesterday, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee has yet to take an official position on the latest draft of the student judicial charter. Although no new issues came to light, SEC spent the greater part of its meeting discussing the draft, coming to the conclusion that "several major points [in the charter] need addressing," Senate Chairperson-Elect Peter Kuriloff said. To that end, SEC established a small committee to make recommendations on changes to the charter. The committee will bring its suggestions back to SEC during its November 8 meeting. At that time, SEC could amend the suggestions and approve concrete proposals, then pass them on to Provost Stanley Chodorow for consideration. According to Associate Radiology Professor David Hackney, senate secretary-elect, SEC discussed many of the same issues that were brought up at recent University Council and Undergraduate Assembly meetings. "I don't think anyone raised anything new," Hackney said. And Senate Past Chairperson David Hildebrand, a statistics professor, said the meeting was somewhat frustrating since the process of reviewing the charter has become lengthy. Hildebrand added that he hoped the November 8 meeting will complete SEC's involvement in the discussion. "I hope to God that we get it done then," he added. But Senate Chairperson William Kissick, a Medical School professor, said SEC's delay will not slow down the general process of reviewing the judicial charter. And since most SEC members had not discussed the charter in detail before, yesterday's meeting served primarily as a forum to debate issues of faculty concern, Hackney said. And according to Kissick, the vast majority of SEC members participated in the judicial charter discussion, which was "wide open and candid." "I haven't seen for a while such a serious discussion of issues that affect all of us," Hildebrand said. According to Kuriloff, a Graduate School of Education professor, some faculty members became very vocal on the issue of fair representation in a hearing. Kuriloff noted that "how you strike a balance with a fair playing field" remains undetermined. The senate members felt "fairly strongly" that attorneys should not be involved in the hearings at all. But when discussing whether students should speak for themselves or have an advisor speak for them, faculty members remained divided, Hackney said. "My sense was that there was significant disagreement about that issue," he added. SEC also discussed whether hearings should be open and how far the provost's power should extend. According to Kuriloff, SEC also had "quite a bit" of discussion on the judicial charter's relationship to the Code of Academic Integrity. "There's a concern that the two could get muddled but they are related," Kuriloff added. "I don't know how it's going to play out." Chodorow arrived toward the end of SEC's discussion and briefly addressed the body. He agreed to wait to complete his final draft until after SEC's next meeting. After Chodorow prepares his final version of the charter, he will send it to the four undergraduate schools for approval by their deans and faculty.