Student groups call for judicial charter revisions

Student groups are appealing to Provost Stanley Chodorow to heed their concerns about the most recent draft of the University judicial charter. They said they are considering taking their case to the undergraduate deans. Chodorow released the latest draft last Tuesday, and will report on it today at the University Council meeting. Following the meeting, Chodorow will send the charter to the deans of the four undergraduate schools for comment. On Sunday night, the Undergraduate Assembly unanimously passed a resolution expressing the body's "disappointment" with the revised draft, which it calls "unacceptable." UA Chairperson Lance Rogers said he has been trying to contact Chodorow to find out why the group's recommendations were not taken intoEaccount. "We've heard nothing from the provost," the College senior said. "I want to get a sense of where the administration stands now and what the future holds." College sophomore and UA member Tal Golomb is advising students who oppose the "disastrous" and "frightening" charter to show their concern by attending today's Council meeting. "Don't let the provost slip this past us!" Golomb wrote in an electronic mail message to student leaders. The UA had a similar reaction last fall to the first draft of the charter. In September, the UA unanimously recommended that Chodorow lessen the provost's role in the process, allow hearings to be open to the public at the respondent's request and broaden the ability of a student's advisor to speak at hearings. "The Undergraduate Assembly is dismayed that the revisions, in reality, reflect little compromise nor consideration of our proposed amendments," Sunday's resolution read. The resolution also asks Council not to recommend adoption of the charter and calls on faculty and deans of the undergraduate schools not to adopt the proposed charter. The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly also passed the UA's earlier resolution. GAPSA President Victor Prince, a second-year Wharton graduate student, said the group continues to stand by the UA's position. "This is a good example of students really getting involved and organizing and expressing themselves to the administration," Prince said. "After all that, it's disappointing to see that it came to no avail." First Amendment Task Force President Eric Tienou, a College senior, said the group's members voted last night to oppose recommending approval of the charter, because it imposes confidentiality on participants of judicial hearings. Task Force members plan to discuss the proposed charter with faculty members and deans of the undergraduate schools, Tienou said. They will target the School of Nursing because it is smaller than the others. Rogers said UA members will also try to meet with faculty and deans of the schools about the charter. He added that he has already discussed the draft with four faculty members of University Council and three other faculty members. College senior Wilton Levine, chairperson of the Student Judicial Committee appointed by then-Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson in the winter of 1994, said he also thinks the respondent should be able to discuss his judicial hearings. Levine said he would also like to present his opinion of the charter to the schools.