After more than an hour of heated discussion and debate last night, the Student Assembly passed a resolution urging the College to reconsider its decision regarding the discipline of Psi Upsilon fraternity for the shouting incident that occurred last month.
In its final form, the resolution stated that "The Student Assembly believes, in this instance, that the punishment issued by Dean [of Residential Life Martin] Redman and Acting Assistant Dean [Cassie] Barnhardt was misguided and inappropriately dismissed the decision of the [student Judiciary Committee]."
Emmett Hogan '01, who co-sponsored the resolution with Alex Wilson '01, told The Dartmouth that he felt that the passage of the resolution could potentially have a strong impact on Redman's future dealings with the case.
"I am reasonably certain that he will change his decision," Hogan said.
The Assembly cited four principles upon which they disagreed with the disciplinary action taken by the deans.
According to the resolution, the College does not have the right to forcibly adjudicate "The Principle of Community," and "should be expected to abide by a spirit of fairness in its disciplinary procedures."
The resolution also stated that "sentencing should be commensurate with the violation only," implying that the two terms of full social probation which the deans brought against Psi U did not fit the crime of some of its members, who allegedly directed sexist and racist comments toward an anonymous female passing by the house one evening.
Hogan and Wilson accused the deans of sanctioning the fraternity with the intent of not only punishing the offense at hand, but making an example of it in order to discourage further undesirable behavior.
Assembly President Jorge Miranda stressed that, while the Assembly was not attempting to "re-try" Psi U, he believes last night's decision reflected student sentiment that "the case wasn't handled in the best possible way."
The vote itself was split with 25 in favor, 10 against, and 6 abstentions.
Several members who initially criticized the resolution later decided to support it after the Assembly passed three amendments, one of which struck from the record any clauses referring to sexual abuse.
Supporters of the resolution encouraged Assembly members to separate their feelings regarding the individual incident from what Hogan cited as the issue at hand: the College's right to "make an example of someone just to prove a point."
"The fundamental issue here is fairness," Hogan emphasized.
A theme that continued to resurface throughout the debate was the belief that the JC, dean's office and the Assembly itself had relatively scant information upon which to base their respective decisions.
"There are so many what if's," Jared Thorne '03 pointed out.
A poignant letter from "anonymous" was read by an Assembly member in which she urged the Assembly not to pass the bill.
"Psi U is not the victim here. I am," she wrote.
Kevin Watkins '03 admitted, "I was on the lawn that night," he also said he had been involved in the yelling.
Watkins added that he was not asked by the JC or Redman to tell his side of the story and consequently made a personal appointment to see Redman this week.
Over 50 students attended last night's meeting, including an officer of the JC and some members of Psi U, one of whom publicly admitted to having been involved in the incident.
