By Jane R. Elgass
The Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs is seeking faculty and staff volunteers to serve as mediators and administrative hearing officers under the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities (SSRR).
Students accused of violating the statement have three avenues of resolution: mediation, a student panel hearing or an administrative hearing.
Mediation is available if both the accuser and accused agree to the process. Through the end of winter term, mediation was successful in resolving complaints eight times, according to Mary Lou Antieau, the University’s judicial adviser.
Should the parties agree to mediate, but mediation fails, the judicial process moves to a student panel or administrative hearing.
An administrative hearing is conducted by an individual who weighs the evidence presented and determines if a violation has occurred. If so, Antieau explains, the administrative hearing officer designs an appropriate sanction.
Student panels are coordinated by a non-voting faculty member who is selected from a pool submitted by the Student Rights Committee of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs. Student members are drawn from a pool of 50, randomly selected from Office of the Registrar records. The pool is stratified by sex and undergraduate/graduate status.
The panels are created on a case-by-case basis. The chair chooses eight students from the pool—six for the panel and two students as backup.
Antieau says that the process is designed “to be as squeaky clean as possible.” Students can remove themselves from a panel and the accused can ask to have individuals removed.
“The structure of the hearings—both student panel and administrative—is identical,” Antieau notes. “Due process and procedural safeguards provided for students exceed those required by the courts. In both types of hearings we expect a norm of civility. Character evidence is not admissible, but indirect evidence (such as ‘Someone told me about …’) and direct evidence (‘I was there when …’) are acceptable.”
Antieau is present at both types of hearings, assisting the panel or hearing officer concerning admissibility of evidence. She is not present during deliberations to determine if the SSRR has been violated.
Accused students may have an adviser with them. The adviser may be a parent, friend, roommate, faculty or staff member, or an attorney.
Antieau says that the individual accompanying a student “is another set of ears. The student is under a lot of pressure, and may not hear everything. The adviser provides moral support, but does not repesent the student.
“The purpose of the process, whether it be mediation, the student panel or the administrative hearing, is not adversarial,” Antieau stresses. “We want to obtain the truth about what happened, determine if it is a violation of the statement and, if so, de-velop an appropriate sanction. Everyone is on an equal footing with respect to support.”
Antieau notes that training in mediation skills can be valuable in many settings and encourages faculty and staff to volunteer. The sessions are free and Antieau asks only that volunteers agree to serve as mediators. There is no minimum time they are expected to serve.
Current potential members of hearing panels received their orientation this past weekend. Presentations included an overview of the statement and examples of situations that may be considered violations. Participants also developed listening and questioning skills, learned how to devise sanctions and were briefed on the range of sanctions available.
The training sessions were videotaped and Antieau encourages anyone interested in serving as a mediator or administrative hearing officer to view the tapes.
To volunteer or to arrange to see the videos, call 764-5132 and ask for Barb.
