Student Assembly passed legislation on Tuesday calling for the formation of a new committee to evaluate the College's disciplinary procedures for organizations. The legislation follows a series of controversial decisions by members of the Organization Adjudication Committee last term.
Organizations' cases are frequently heard by a dean rather than the full OAC, because faculty members of the OAC had complained about the inefficiency of holding full hearings for simple keg violations, Student Body President-elect Frances Vernon '10 said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
The evaluative committee will consist of a male and female representative from the Assembly, the Council on Student Organizations, the Student Athletic Advisory Committee, the Tucker Foundation, the Greek Leadership Council and any other organizations the Assembly deems relevant, according to the legislation.
Each organization will select its own representatives, Vernon said.
The committee will be tasked with reviewing OAC procedures and will submit any recommended changes to Dean of the College Tom Crady by the end of Spring term. The Assembly aims to begin committee meetings next week, David Imamura '10, Assembly spokesperson and co-sponsor of the legislation, said.
"Speed is essential," Imamura said in an interview. "We are hoping to have this ready before the adoption of [the Alcohol Management Policy]."
Vernon and Imamura have been meeting with administrators who have been supportive of the committee's formation, he said.
"People are really ready to sit down and hammer down what are the next steps," Vernon said.
The legislation states that formation of the committee was driven in part by student criticism that some sentences handed down under the current OAC system have been inconsistent.
"There's a lot of discontent amongst the Greek System, but also amongst organizations across the board," Imamura said.
The committee aims to "increase the transparency of this process," Vernon said.
Isabelle Schless '10, president of Sigma Delta sorority, said she believed the OAC process could be more clear. Sigma Delt was one of several Greek organizations that received sanctions from the OAC during Winter term. Some students criticized the OAC at that time for allegedly making procedural missteps.
"I really just think there needs to be more transparency, so that before there are incidents, there's a better understanding of what the consequences are and so that afterwards, there's a greater clarity as to how they arrived at the decisions that were made," Schless said.
The legislation also highlighted statistics indicating that Dartmouth students have had limited involvement in OAC decisions made over the past two years. The decision to call a full hearing of the entire OAC depends on the case and is subjective, Vernon said.
The Assembly also passed legislation on Tuesday to create an online directory of campus organizations, which the Assembly aims to have included on the Dartmouth home page, Vernon said.
Rebecca Hellerman '11 was confirmed as student services committee chair for the remainder of the term. Vernon, along with Student Body Vice President-elect Cory Cunningham '10, will officially take office at next week's General Assembly meeting.
Cunningham is a member of The Dartmouth Senior Business Staff.
