Newspapers / The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / Dec. 5, 1988, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Guilford in the Holiday Spirit Women's Basketball Goes 4-1 Art Show Opening —P-4 ...p.B —P- 5 m GUILFORDIAN m Vol. 73 No. 12 Judicial Board Swamped by Cases by Jay Underwood The College Judicial Board has been busy this fall semester. Since the beginning of the year, they have heard over 60 cases and issued at least 75 reprimands both significant increases over last year. Last year, judicial cases where guilt was admitted or found numbered 110. So far this semester, 62 cases of this sort have been heard, with 5 more scheduled before the semester's end. In addition, the Board issued a total of 90 written reprimands last year for violations only considered serious in their repetition. So far this semester, 75 reprimands of this sort have been warranted. "We've got everything from violating quiet hours to pulling fire alarms," said Dick Dyer, Asssistant to the Dean of Students for Retention and Judicial Affairs. "What this says to me is that we're not yet the honest, quiet, and tolerant community that we would hope College to Judicial System by David Simpson The Guilford College Judicial System, after undergoing extensive revision only three years ago, is preparing to be reviewed again beginning with discussions next semester. Right now the present system is too highly centralized, says Bob White, Assistant Dean of Students for Residential Life and Director of Security. "It's too slow of a system," he said. White, who is also a member of S.A.C. (Student Affairs Committee) said that the system needs to be altered to be quicker and more efficient, but at the same time needs to have consistency of penalties built into the structure. The S.A.C. and S. R. C. (Student Residence Council) are currently discussing plans for a joint venture into possible changes for the judicial system. Students Beth Tate and Tracy Russ of the S.R.C. say that no ideas have been put on the table yet. All they have done is talk about possible changes. The only idea that has emerged in discussions is the possibly of adding a judicial component to the house councils Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C. to be." Four of the cases have been remanded to outside judicial institutions, which is an infrequent action taken by the Judicial Board. "They were serious enough that we pressed charges off campus," said Dyer. "Our Judicial Board is not set up to deal with criminal cases." Dyer said that the Student Affairs Committee will uphold the court's verdict in each of these cases. Upon their return to the college, the offenders will be subject to additional review by the Judicial Board to determine their penalties. The reasons for the increase of Judicial Cases are varied. "I think a lot of this has to do with adjustment from being away form home," said Dyer. "Guilford is a social experiment. We're bringing in this tremendously diverse group of people, and seeing community-building and understanding as an implicit part of the education. When that doesn't happen, the Judicial system is there to foster and protect that experiment." Dyer said that typically. of residence halls. This would mean, said Russ, that smaller judicial concerns like noise and damage violations would be dealt with in the residence halls. The result would be that fewer cases would go before the judicial board. Junior Greg Bergl of the S.A.C. said that the S.A.C. and the S.R.C. are looking to make fairly extensive changes in the system but corroborated the other statements that they didn't know what the changes would be yet. "The new system has to be simplified but still fair," said Dick Dyer, assistant to the Dean of Students for Retention and Judicial Affairs. He said that the judicial component is a workable solution if it has set penalties that are in a standard schedule of penalties. He also questioned what to do with repeat violators of the system. He said there is a need for a community service program because probation encourages a shallow level of understanding. A mediation component is also needed, said Dyer, "this gets people on both sides to understand each other." 60% to 70% of the cases are alcohol related, meaning the violations probably wouldn't have happened had alcohol not been present. Dyer added that the fact that more cases have been reported has supplemented the increase. "I think the primary reason for the increase in Judicial charges and written reprimands is due to a more consistent and highly trained Residential Life staff," he said Dyer stressed that the power of the individual at Guilford can be detrimental as well as constructive in the college community. "Because this place is small, each individual here has tremendous power. One person on a hall of 50 students has the power to keep that whole hall awake. "One person has the power to pull a fire alarm and clear an entire hall of men out at 4am," said Dyer. The Judicial Board will release records of all of the judicial cases first semester in January. Some people agree that the judicial system need" to be changed but have very distinct and different ideas on what needs to be done. Sophomore Peter Smith, a member of the judicial board, says that the system is ir. dire need of help. Smith feels that the system needs to be more student-controlled and needs to seperate itself more from the asdministration. "The Senate has to get involved in the process," says Smith. Putting faith in the students is essential, he added, "Students won't respect the judicial process unless they do it themselves." He added that this must be done in democratic ways like having a student elected judicial board, and letting the students write their own handbook. Similarly, Bill Schmickle said that students need to feel like the system originates with them and that they have control over it. Schmickle, a political science professor and member of the judicial board, said that if students were to initiate their (cont'd, on p. 6) WfllUUliil 111 U U 'IIJ L, LI II 1 1I- I 'liinniriinf • j photo by Sarah Bowdilch Hmmm... we think that there is something slightly wrong in this sign outside of Frazier 16, the Residential Life office. Can you find it? "Activity Zone" Included in New Proposal by Alexandra Duckworth Do you have trouble finding a convenient time for your club to meet? Are you forced to schedule your activities after midnight because everyone is frantically busy during the rest of the day? There is a schedule revision proposal which, if installed, could make setting up practical meeting times much easier. The proposal, now in its fourth draft, would include an "activity zone," more standardized class times, and longer periods between classes. The plan would also increase the number of classes on Fridays and eliminate classes for main campus students after 8:45 p.m. Courses would still be offered to CCE students from 8:50 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Nancy Cable-Wells, Dean of Students, said that students returning to the residence halls from late-night classes can often distract other students from studying. In order to give students more opportunity to organize activities daring the day, the revised schedule would have no classes from 4:00 to 6:00 Tuesday through Friday. December 5, 1988 Student activities would have no obligation to meet during this time said Cable- Wells, "but House Council meetings wouldn't have to be at midnight." Senate and Faculty meetings could still be held from 2:30 to 4:00 on Wednesdays. Under the new plan, classes would meet on a more standardized schedule. All classes would be held on cither Monday, Wednesday, and Friday or Tuesday and Thursday. All three-hour labs would run from 2:30 to 5:30 on Monday. This standardization would enable the Registrar's Office to publish the exam schedule before registration. Due to the long-standing pressure from students and faculty, time between classes would be increased fi vc to ten minutes if the scnedule revision were passed. In order for it to pass, the proposal would have to be approved by the Administrative Council and the Clerk's Council. Asked when the plan could be instituted, Cable-Wells replied that it could be some time before any changes take place. "There arc still a lot of things that have not been worked out," she said.
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 5, 1988, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75