The following letter should be given to any student who has received a penalty from the Honor and Ethics Council, the interim judicial process, or a hearing before an administrative officer of the university.
Dear Student,
In my capacity as secretary of the Judicial Council, it is my responsibility to explain to you the appeal procedures we have in the College, and to coordinate any request you may have for a review of the process you have just undergone.
Here is some background. The Judicial Council is the highest authority in the College on judicial matters. It was created about twenty years ago by the Board of Trustees to oversee our judicial system, and in that mission, one of its functions is to consider a review of anything in the system which someone thinks was done wrong or unfairly. The Judicial Council is made up predominantly of faculty members, with a few members being students and members of the administration. Current members are listed in the back of each year's Bulletin of the College, but the Bulletin sometimes reflects the membership of the previous year. If you are curious as to the exact membership at any moment, I can easily tell you. Members serve terms of three to five years, so there is a good amount of continuity in the decisions this body makes.
If you have received a penalty of suspension or expulsion, you will automatically be given an appeal hearing if you request one within five days of the hearing at which you were penalized. You need to request the appeal in writing, and you need to make sure I receive the request; to guarantee that there are no slips, make an appointment to see me in room 204 of the Athletic Center as soon as possible, and meet with me in person before the five days are up. We will set a date for the appeal hearing between eight and fifteen school days from the day you request an appeal.
If your penalty is anything less than suspension, there is not automatically an appeal waiting for you. If you feel something has been done incorrectly or unfairly, you will need to persuade the Judicial Council that your case deserves the intensive review which an appeal represents. The Judicial Council doesn't hear an appeal just because a student is unhappy with the outcome. You will need to persuade this group, by way of a statement of 1000 words or fewer, why an appeal should be heard.
The grounds for hearing an appeal are three: (1) the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict, (2) the fairness of the hearing, and (3) the severity of the penalty relative to the charge and verdict or plea. You may choose any or all of these grounds, although the first one only applies in cases where you plead not guilty and are found guilty. It is a very good idea for you to engage the help of another undergraduate, such as a student counselor, in writing your request for appeal, because it is your only gateway to a review of your case. If you don't have a student advisor or would like to switch to a new one, call me at x5916.
Begin your statement by saying what you were charged with, what penalty you received, and on what grounds you are requesting an appeal. Then begin writing, up to 1000 words. If it is to be effective, your statement should catch the attention of the Judicial Council's members in such a way as to make them say, ³It sound as though a mistake may have been made: we should review this case.² You have five days from the day you received your penalty in which to create and submit this statement. When you submit it, you must give one copy to me and another to the head of the hearing which gave you the penalty. Make sure I have received your statement by calling me at x5916 or visiting me in 204 Manchester Athletic Center.
What happens next? The head of your trial body will have to respond to your complaint, also in writing. When I have both your statement and her/his statement, I will be ready to take the case to the next business meeting of the Judicial Council. Meanwhile, I will notify Ms. White in Dean Holmes' office that your penalty is on hold pending a decision about an appeal.
When the Judicial Council has met, I will notify you at your post office box as to whether you will have an appeal. If you don't get one, your penalty goes into effect, with any timetables adjusted, if necessary, to take the delay of appealing into account. If you do get one, I will set a date for your appeal between eight and fifteen school days from that point and I will begin meeting with you to explain the internal details of how an appeal hearing works.
This two-step process was conceived, obviously, to prevent a flood of frivolous appeals from tying up the work of the Judicial Council. Please rest assured that this group will take your statement seriously; they have a good sense for what is fair and reasonable.
If these explanations don't answer all your questions, please call me or visit me.
Sincerely,
W. Douglas Bland
Assistant to the Dean of the College and
Secretary to the Judicial Council
