A committee tasked with proposing reforms to the Organizational Adjudication Committee has recommended that five-member student boards, rather than deans, hear College disciplinary cases for organizations, according to a summary of the proposal provided by Student Assembly. The Assembly endorsed the proposals on Tuesday.
The proposal follows controversial OAC decisions during Winter term that resulted in lengthy probations for several Greek organizations.
"This proposal gives students more involvement in decisions and more responsibility for holding each other accountable," April Thompson, director of Undergraduate Judicial Affairs, said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
The proposal is currently under review by the Council on Student Organizations, the Student Athletic Advisory Committee, the Tucker Foundation and the Greek Leadership Council, and must be approved by all affected College umbrella organizations and Dean of the College Tom Crady to be enacted.
The full OAC, which consists of students, faculty and administrators, would still convene for serious matters, including cases in which organizations may be removed from campus or face more than a year of probation.
The student board, which would be advised by an administrator or faculty member, would be randomly selected for each hearing from a pool of 45 students. The current proposal does not specify that students must apply to be included in the pool, but former Student Body President Molly Bode '09 suggested at the Assembly meeting that the proposal include an application process.
The pool would include 20 students selected by the GLC, five selected by the Dean of the College's Office, 10 elected and 10 chosen by SAAC, COSO and other organizations.
Two of the student board members would also be members of the umbrella organization that oversees the group cited for an infraction, but the board would not include members of the group itself.
The student board members would be selected during the Spring term of their sophomore year, and serve two-year terms to ensure "institutional memory," according to David Imamura '10, chair of the OAC review committee and Assembly spokesperson.
A member of the office of Undergraduate Judicial Affairs would also be present at hearings to provide context and information about past sanctions.
Board votes would be conducted by secret ballot to guarantee privacy for committee members, Imamura said.
Thompson said she did not know whether the review committee's recommendations are likely to be accepted.
Lucretia Witte '10, a member of the review committee representing the Panhellenic Council and SAAC, said she thought both organizations will support the proposal.
"I don't expect that there will be any kind of dissent," she said.
Members of the Inter-Fraternity Council were enthusiastic about the changes, according to IFC President Zachary Gottlieb '10.
"I think people are excited to have students dealing with student issues," he said.
Gottlieb is a staff columnist for The Dartmouth.
Some students at the Assembly meeting on Tuesday said that the five-person boards should include a voting administrator.
Students also said board members may feel pressured to give Greek organizations more lenient punishments.
Fraternities are unlikely to discourage individual students from taking part in the process, or to retaliate against students involved in sanctioning their organizations, Gottlieb said.
"This doesn't lend itself to blaming individuals," he said.
