Two student groups recently filed reports recommending the College provide students with more information on how to file charges with the COS -- which tries not only sexual abuse cases, but also cases involving plagiarism and theft, among other issues.
Currently, four College documents give information relating to sexual abuse: the Student Handbook, a pamphlet on the COS, another on sexual abuse, and a letter on how to file a sexual abuse complaint put out by the COS.
Many administrators feel these four documents are enough. Liza Veto, assistant coordinator of sexual awareness and abuse programs, said she feels the College has done a good job of laying out how to file sexual abuse charges.
Dan Nelson, senior associate dean of the College, said the actual procedures for filing such complaints are clear.
The particular questions students have regarding their own cases are what make the process confusing.
"The question of how to bring a case to the COS, on the one hand, is a very simple question -- really all you have to do is write it down, and you've submitted a complaint," Nelson said.
"It becomes more complicated when you start talking about, 'Can I withdraw my complaint? Do I have to be there in person? How soon will the person who I'm accusing get a copy of my complaint?'" Nelson added.
Because the COS does not act within the College community as an official court of law but as Dartmouth's own system for administering justice, its judicial process differs from real legal systems in several respects.
When the COS finds a student guilty of sexual abuse and punishes that student, usually by suspension or expulsion, this does not mean a student has been found legally guilty of sexual abuse.
"For better or worse, it's not a court of law," said recent graduate Jeremy Katz '95, who served on the COS for two-and-a-half years. "It's certainly not something you could compare to 'L.A. Law' or 'People's Court.' "
Other fine distinctions exist between the COS and actual courts of law. Dean of the College Lee Pelton said federal law requires colleges and universities to set up their own disciplinary systems corresponding to the notion of "basic fairness."
In a joint interview with The Dartmouth, Nelson, Pelton and Undergraduate Judicial Affairs Officer Marcia Kelly described the COS procedures.
To file a case, Kelly said the administration tries to set the student up with an advisor answer questions and guide the student along the way.
This person, often a student's class dean, helps the student write a formal complaint, which is submitted to Kelly and then to the other party.
The College then becomes the official complainant, and Kelly gathers all evidence related to the case. This information, which Katz said can add up to as much as 100 pages, is distributed to all committee members for their review before the hearing.
No less than five days after the College informs accused students of the charges against them, the hearing takes place.
"They are horrendous and harrowing experiences," Katz said, which can last for hours.
At the hearing, both parties are allowed to be accompanied by one "adviser," who is present as "a second pair of eyes," to help the students make their case, Kelly said.
After each party makes their opening remarks, committee members ask them questions about the case's evidence.
Instead of cross-examining each other, a person involved in a case must ask the committee members to ask questions of the other party. Witnesses may be called in, Katz said, though it is rare.
"If there's a feeling that a witness's statement has a global relevance for the case, then the witness might come in to make a statement," Katz said. Depending on the case, the witness may stay for the entire case or stay only to be questioned by the committee.
As soon as committee members are through interrogating the students involved, both parties make closing statements, after which they leave the room while the committee discusses the case.
Committee members reach their decision not based on the principle of "innocent until proven guilty," but rather on the principle of "preponderance of evidence," meaning that the burden of proof is not placed on the student who made the charges.
Furthermore, such decisions rely not on consensus, but on a simple majority.
If the accused is acquitted, then "we pack up and go home," but if not, the committee must then decide on proper punishment.
Punishments are based on a book of cases which act as precedents, for the guilty party, Katz said.
