When students are accused of plagiarism, cheating, rape or committing a hate crime, they must face a jury made up of not only administrators and faculty members, but their own peers.
They face the College's Committee on Standards, which hears cases involving academic or conduct issues, ranging from decisions to drop or place a Non-Recording Option on classes, to violations of the academic honor code and sexual and physical assault of any kind.
Twelve students, 12 faculty members and eight administrators sit on COS.
The faculty members are nominated by the Committee on Organization and Policy and voted on by the entire faculty, while the administrative members are nominated by the College president.
The student body elected six students earlier this month to serve on COS next year, and Dean of the College Lee Pelton will select the other six before the end of the term.
But some students question why they cannot elect all of the student members if COS is supposed to be a jury of their peers. Yet others say that when students participate in elections, they do not always vote wisely.
Students elected six white males -- Bruce Kennedy '00, Ezekiel Webber '00, Jonah Sonnenborn '99, Noah Phillips '00, Rex Morey '00 and Brian Feldman '00 -- in this year's election, despite the list of female and other diverse candidates on the ballots.
To ensure a diverse judicial body, additional students are appointed to COS each year to fill the 12 student positions.
Separate because they're not equal
In order to fill the remaining six slots, the Student Assembly nominates students each year for the positions and submits names to the dean of the College. The dean makes final appointments.
Students who wish to join the COS can also submit applications without receiving a nomination from the Assembly.
Undergraduate Judicial Affairs Officer Marcia Kelly said 15 to 20 applications for COS were submitted after this year's student government elections took place.
Kelly said this appointment process -- which is now going into its fourth year -- arose from the fact that statistically, the elected students are six white males, as was the case in this year's election.
"I'm not saying they're not a perfectly good representation of the student body," Kelly said. The goal of the appointment process, she said, is to make sure the COS panel is more diverse and included females.
Kelly said she placed great importance on "having a gender balance and students from different racial and religious backgrounds." She added that because students who run for COS tend to be government or history majors, or consider themselves pre-law, a diversity of majors is another concern in the COS appointment process.
Kennedy criticized the appointment of COS members by the dean of the College, comparing the process to Southern schools. He said students at the College had much less power in the decision, while at many other schools the student body has the exclusive right to choose the representatives.
"I wish it were that way here," he said. "Students ought to be able to elect all the members of COS."
Twice-elected COS member Jonah Sonnenborn '99 took the opposite stand and questioned the process of electing COS members. He said elections can "be a sort of popularity contest."
Sonnenborn said students should have a say in choosing the COS members, but said that too often, students choose their candidates for the wrong reasons.
"This is much more serious than petty politics," he said.
Kennedy said the composition of COS was "completely fair," as the six male members elected to COS were all chosen by the student body. But having females on the committee, he said, would be important to ensure different perspectives.
"On the surface, it would be important to see diversity, but it is not imperative," he said, adding that in other respects, the group was already "pretty diverse."
He said the members were chosen for their just qualities and their good judgment.
Webber said students should neither be appointed nor elected just for the sake of diversity, but he added that women's perspectives and opinions are very important, especially in sexual assault cases.
Confidential hearings in Parkhurst
The COS is active for a one-year term, starting the day after Commencement, and is in charge of adjudicating honor and discipline cases.
The COS hears between eight and 15 cases a year, Kelly said. Any alleged violation of the honor principle that may lead to a punishment at the suspension level might result in a COS case if the student denies the accusation. Many of the cases involve more than one party, she said.
In the case of a violation, the accused student and an advisor appear before a panel of six COS members. Kelly explained that a full panel usually consists of three students, three faculty members and two administrators.
When not enough faculty members are available for a hearing, a smaller quorum panel is composed of two faculty members, two students and one administrator. Kelly said she aims for an odd number of panel members. The "guiding principle," she said, is to keep the number of faculty members and students equal.
Two days before a hearing, panel members and the accused student receive case packets containing basic information about the allegations. COS members are expected to acquaint themselves with the case and to "think about questions they might need to ask," Kelly said.
The student "presents his side of the story," and is interrogated by the panel, Sonnenborn explained. The COS panel then discusses the circumstances of the violation and recommends an appropriate punishment to the dean of the College, who chairs the committee.
Kelly explained that under federal law the College and COS are required to keep disciplinary records confidential. She said the COS releases annual reports which summarize the case load to the community, but these reports do not reveal the identity of the students involved in the cases.
Not fun, but honorable
Students on COS uphold confidentiality and regard their positions with honor.
Newly elected COS member Webber said he thinks "it won't be fun to serve on COS, but it is a direct way to help make sure Dartmouth is a good place." He said he regards COS as a kind of service to the community. He said he thinks COS is necessary because it "assures the accountability of students to maintain integrity, academic and social."
"Justice works best when everyone knows what's going on," he said.
Sonnenborn said he believes the purpose of COS is to "maintain the intellectual and conduct integrity of this school." He called COS a "necessary institution" and said it serves to remind the students of the principles on which the College was founded.
Being on COS is "one of the most important and honorable positions available to students," he said. Because COS decisions can have a large impact and a long-run significance on a student's life, he said COS members must be responsible, fair and just and must also know the College well.
"The COS is doing the best job the campus can ask," he said.
Sonnenborn said he was impressed with the College's judicial system, which he called "very fair." COS procedure, he said, is discreet and "dedicated to maintaining privacy."
