Student senate to present recommended changes
John Moenster
Issue date: 12/4/08 Section: News
As the fall semester comes to a close, some soon-to-be proposed changes to the Student Conduct Code are starting to take shape.
Sophomore JoEllen Flanagan, Student Senate student affairs chair, makes sure the student population is represented in this process. Flanagan has been reporting to Senate about the conduct code since September, she said.
Flanagan said that so far she has conducted five round tables and two open forums and has visited about 140 student organizations during their meeting times. Flanagan said students usually play a very small role in revising the document that governs their behavior.
"I feel like since I am student affairs chair and I am in Student Senate representing people, that I have to be as extreme as possible when getting student input," Flanagan said.
Flanagan said she has come across about 20 policies that she thinks might be violating student rights. Unable to look at all of the policies, Flanagan said she decided to focus on three policies and plans on making about six recommendations. Those policies include the Good Samaritan policy, the policy on group punishment and the policy for posting on campus.
The Good Samaritan policy has been the one students are most concerned about, Flanagan said. She said the current policy does not protect students enough - she has heard multiple stories about students getting punished for trying to take care of someone who was too intoxicated.
Students also voiced opinions that the policy dealing with group punishment and guilt by association is unfair, she said. According to the Student Conduct Code, students could be held accountable as a group and a hearing may proceed against the group as joint accused students. Through her research Flanagan discovered that students think that group punishment is a violation of due process.
Flanagan said the posting policy on campus is the final policy she focused on as part of her report. Flanagan would like the policy to change to allow bar-sponsored events to be publicized on campus. The changes would allow for only the event itself to be advertised with information like drink specials discluded, she said. Flanagan said this policy was examined because student organizations often host charity events at bars, such as trivia nights, band-fests and poetry slams.
Sophomore JoEllen Flanagan, Student Senate student affairs chair, makes sure the student population is represented in this process. Flanagan has been reporting to Senate about the conduct code since September, she said.
Flanagan said that so far she has conducted five round tables and two open forums and has visited about 140 student organizations during their meeting times. Flanagan said students usually play a very small role in revising the document that governs their behavior.
"I feel like since I am student affairs chair and I am in Student Senate representing people, that I have to be as extreme as possible when getting student input," Flanagan said.
Flanagan said she has come across about 20 policies that she thinks might be violating student rights. Unable to look at all of the policies, Flanagan said she decided to focus on three policies and plans on making about six recommendations. Those policies include the Good Samaritan policy, the policy on group punishment and the policy for posting on campus.
The Good Samaritan policy has been the one students are most concerned about, Flanagan said. She said the current policy does not protect students enough - she has heard multiple stories about students getting punished for trying to take care of someone who was too intoxicated.
Students also voiced opinions that the policy dealing with group punishment and guilt by association is unfair, she said. According to the Student Conduct Code, students could be held accountable as a group and a hearing may proceed against the group as joint accused students. Through her research Flanagan discovered that students think that group punishment is a violation of due process.
Flanagan said the posting policy on campus is the final policy she focused on as part of her report. Flanagan would like the policy to change to allow bar-sponsored events to be publicized on campus. The changes would allow for only the event itself to be advertised with information like drink specials discluded, she said. Flanagan said this policy was examined because student organizations often host charity events at bars, such as trivia nights, band-fests and poetry slams.
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