Page 8
- The Banner —
News
February 17,1997
Conduct
continued from page one
adding that his mother did not
know his current Asheville address.
McGarghan said he only found
out about his probation from a
third party in an SGA meeting on
Feb. 13, nearly a week after the
committee’s sanction decision went
into effect.
Sergio Mariaca, student body
president, told McGarghan he was
ineligible for appointment to SGA
office manager because of his spe
cific probation, a sanction which
prohibits him from being affiliated
with any campus organizations or
representing the university in any
way for the remainder of the semes
ter.
Mariaca learned of McGarghan’s
conduct sanction from Nina East,
director of student development,
said McGarghan.
One of the main concerns of
McGarghan and students aware of
his case centers on the notification
process used by the student con
duct system, a process they con
sider ineffective.
“There was never confirmation
on my part,” said McGarghan, a
former student court justice famil
iar with the old system.
“There needs to be a process in
the system where there has to be
acknowledgment by the student,
either written or verbal, saying‘Yes,
I’ve gotten it,”’ he said, referring to
the student conduct notification
letter.
In the past, student court offi
cials subpoenaed people face to face
or attempted to use certified mail to
ensure student notification.
“It used to take months to track
down students with subpoenas,”
said Hoyt Phillips, a sophomore
economics major and one of two
students on the committee that met
to review McGarghan’s case.
“It’s a lot easier for them to just
send you a letter and give you a
month to respond,” said Phillips.
Also, many times the only way to
locate a student was to subpoena
him or her in the middle of a class,
thus interrupting the professor and
disrupting the course, said East.
The use of certified mail also posed
problems, said Hintz, who served
as an advisor in the former student
court.
“I’ve seen certified mail come back
after the carrier tried to find stu
dents several times. Student court
used this system very limitedly,”
Hintz said.
Overall, Hintz considers the cur
rent notification process effective.
“I feel like we’ve made every effort
to contact students in an appropri
ate manner,” said Hintz.
A second major concern of
McGarghan involves the fairness of
the appeals process used by the new
conduct system.
jThe fact that East serves as head of
the appeals process while also su
pervising the entire system stands
as one possible conflict of interest,
said McGarghan, a point Mariaca
• «
Sergio
Mariaca
agreed with.
“I would want to know how Nina
East can be in charge of appeals and
be a knowing member of what’s
going on day
to day. I would
want a person
hearing the
appeal to be
objective and
fresh,” said
Mariaca.
He also
pointed out
that one of the
student con-
duct commit
tee chairper
sons, Robert Straub, is a staff mem
ber working under East.
Hintz does not consider East’s
position a potential danger to the
justice of the appeals process.
“Nina East is disconnected with
what happens with conduct and we
kept it that way purposely since she
does hear the appeals,” said Hintz.
“When she gets an appeal, for the
most part, the case is brand new to
her.”
“If a student were just appealing
that a sanction were too severe, I
might review that myself When
ever there’s a question of did it
really happen or did it not, it goes to
the committee,” said East.
In addition to his concerns over
East’s role in the process,
McGarghan felt it unfair that the
same committee that originally re
viewed his case was called to re
review the matter following his ap
peal. Appearing to discuss his case
before people who had already sanc
tioned him would add bias to the
outcome, he said.
Hintz noted that the student can
always appeal again if he or she
feels there was bias in returning to
the same committee.
Members of the conduct com
mittee agreed that the opportu
nity to meet with a student
concerning a pre-reviewed case
was beneficial to both parties.
“It’s a challenge to stay objective
in the second meeting, but the pur
pose of us seeing him again was
really to re-reviev/ the case and hear
his assertion,” said Marsh. “We did
lessen the sanctions, and we took
his assertion that he was not drink
ing,” she said.
The second meeting, which took
place on Feb. 20, came after
McGarghan appealed his case on
the grounds that he was innocent of
the charges, that the conduct sys
tem failed to notify him of the meet
ing, and that the committee’s sanc
tions were too severe for the charges.
The committee lessened its sanc
tion to general probation after dis
cussing the case with McGarghan, a
sanction which allows the student
to participate in campus organiza
tions.
McGarghan said he plans to ap
peal the committee’s second deci
sion as well.
SGA
continued from page one
doing it,” said Hintz of the sub
poena process used in former stu
dent court.
Following concerns about student
notification, SGA called for ad
equate defense representation in the
new conduct system.
“The system needs someone to be
on the side of the accused that
knows what’s going on,” said Gross.
The closest parallel to the position
of public defender in the new sys
tem goes by the name of student
conduct intern, a person who serves
as an adviser to students undergo
ing the conduct process.
“I am able to answer whatever
questions students have. It sort of
parallels the old defender except
that I’m not on anyone’s side,” said
Pittman, one of two interns cur
rently working in the student con
duct system.
Another issue raised by SGA pro
poses notifying the accused of sanc
tions personally or in writing to
assure confidentiality of the
student’s case.
Gross felt a serious breach of con
fidentiality occurred in a recent case
in which a student was informed of
his conduct sanctions by a third
party not affiliated with the con
duct system.
According to students and ad
ministrators, improved confidenti
ality stands as one of the main ben
efits of the new conduct system.
“The new system protects students’
rights more because there is such
attention to privacy,” said East.
Records were previously stored in
the SGA office and access was open
to the public,
she said.
“It was the
entertain
ment during
Nina East
Local author Helen
Edington will dis
cuss the making of
her book “Angels
Unaware: Asheville
Women of Color,”
on March 9 at 3
p.m. in Lord Audi
torium, Pack Me
morial Library. The
event is sponsored
by the YWCA
Boosters and The
Friends of Bun
combe County Li
braries, Inc.
office hours
to go back
and look
through old
.court cases,”
said Pittman,
implying the
lack of confi
dentiality associated with conduct
records in the past.
The records are now stored in a
locked file cabinet with very re
stricted access and are no longer
associated with SGA, said Pittman.
Along with heightened confiden
tiality for case records. Gross called
for more detailed records of what
goes on during student conduct
committee meetings. He proposed
the use of magnetic tape recordings
to cover all proceedings, including
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the sanctioning deliberations, which
are normally closed to the accused
and other students present.
A student could use the record
ings to challenge committee deci-
sion-making processes in later ap
peals to the vice chancellor for stu
dent affairs or the chancellor, said
Gross.
Finally, Gross stated that the new
system needs more rules and regu
lations to insure fair and consistent
treatment for students.
“Without legalism and formality,
how do you protect people’s rights?”
he asked. “To have justice, you
need consistency. Randomness and
a lack of form result in arbitrary
decisions being made.”
While it avoids the host of rules
and regulations that dictated legal
actions in the previous court sys
tem, the new conduct system does
provide student conduct commit
tee members with a routine proce
dure for conduct committee meet-
“There is a certain amount of for
mality to make sure the system is
even and equal for everyone,” said
Ellie Marsh, faculty chairperson on
one of the three conduct commit
tees.
Marsh displayed a copy of the
“Conduct Meeting Format” out
line she refers to during committee
meetings with students.
In terms of consistent decision
making, East considered variety a
key to the educational and develop
mental benefits of the new system.
“Consistency doesn’t mean the
exact same sanctions for the same
behavior,” said East. We take per
sonal circumstances into consider-
Public Safety Reports
By Adrien Sanders
Staff Writer
The following information
came from the five incident
reports filed by the Depart
ment of Public Safety between
Feb. 6, and Sunday, Feb. 23.
Public safety officer Steve
Metcalf filed a report on Feb.
6 after he noticed a woman
walking at night on the grassy
area on W.T. Weaver Boule
vard, which is UNCA prop
erty, and stopped and asked
her if she was a student. She
said that she wasn’t, but re
fused to show any identifica
tion when asked, because she
was not positive he was a real
officer. Even when Officer
Metcalf showed her his badge,
she would not produce any
form of identification.
An officer from the Asheville
Police Department saw the two,
and when he asked the woman
for identification, she showed
him a North Carolina identifi
cation card with the name
Martha Jane Smith. Smith then
started to use profane language
towards Metcalf.
“You’re a f—eking male chau
vinist pig. I am bowing before
you and I am going to kiss your
ass,” she shouted. The officer
from the Asheville Police De
partment then arrested Smith.
Another incident report was
filed on Feb. 12 by Tom B.
Hunnicutt, director of athlet
ics. Hunnicut stated that he
had received information that
Ray Ingram, UNCA women’s
basketball coach who is cur
rently on a paid suspension,
had made threats against his
life to a third parry. Hunnicut
stated that one of the threats
contained language to the ef
fect, “If I lose my job over this
I will blow his brains out.”
Hunnicut stated that he had
been having personnel problems
with Mr. Ingram and believed
the threat could be carried out.
H e also stated that he was afraid
for his safety and would be re
maining at his residence. The
incident occurred at Justice
Gym. Further investigation is
pending.
Another incident was filed by
Metcalf, again regarding a per
son not attending UNCA. Jesse
Eliot Bauer, from Greensboro,
was arrested on Feb. 16. Metcalf
pulled Bauer’s vehicle, a green
Volkswagen van, over because
of the loud muffler. Bauer had
no license on him, and there
was a 1993 Georgia tag on the
van.
Metcalf arrested Bauer on three
charges: driving with a revoked
license, having no insurance, and
displaying a fictitious tag. Bauer
was then transported to the mag
istrate and to jail. A court date
has been scheduled for March
4.
Also on Feb. 16, UNCA stu
dent Martha Melissa King re
ported that her car antenna had
been stolen. The car was parked
across from the Physical Plant.
The estimated value of the sto
len property is $30.
On Sunday, Feb. 23, John
Major Hodges filed a complaint
against UN CA student Jeanette
Webb at the Department of
Public Safety. Hodges was talk
ing with Michael Taylor, the
Editor-In-Chief of the Banner,
about a letter to the editor that
was printed in last week’s edi
tion.
Webb was also there, and ac
cording to Hodges, she burned
him with a cigarette when she
struck him on the hand. The
episode took place in front of
Karpen Hall two days before he
filed the complaint. Hodges told
Officer Lewis he would like to
begin legal proceedings on cam
pus.
The chancellor’s open office hours
are from 2-3 p.m. on March 5, April 1,
April 17, and April 30.
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