The Cavalier daily :: Wednesday, September 23 :: University of Virginia Library

The rules were an "amplification and
clarification" of the already existing
student code of conduct which was
simply defined as ungentlemanly
conduct.

The change in student regulations was
the product of the Special Committee on
Disruptive Practices, composed of
members of the Board of Visitors. The
rules were drafted by the Board's legal
advisor, Lee Middleditch, and distributed
to students during last week's
registration.

This move, according to one of the
two students attending the meeting, Tom
Boyd, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee,
represents not only a clarification considered
vital but also a trying period for the Judiciary
Committee.

Receptive Meeting

Mr. Boyd told The Cavalier Daily that the
tone of the meeting was very receptive to
student ideas. Also attending the meeting was
Dave Morris, President of the College; the
President of the Student Council, Kevin
Mannix, was invited but absent.

Explaining that the previous construction of
campaigning for a clarification of the former
wording prescribing "the conduct becoming a
gentleman."

The vagueness of this wording "would not
hold up in civil court" and hence made the
Judiciary Committee powerless. The fact that
the Board decided to allow students to file the
complaints against alleged violators and
students also to try their peers showed the
Board's willingness to trust students, said Mr.
Boyd. This period also represents a time when
the Committee must prove itself able to carry
this responsibility, he added.

Open Letter

In an open letter to The Cavalier Daily Mr.
Boyd expressed his concern over the issue of
"interim suspension." This clause reads:

"Temporary exclusion from the University
of a student who engages in disruptive conduct
or in any other prohibited conduct which poses
a substantial threat to the health or safety of
other members of the University or to
University property or to the orderly operation
of the University, pending a hearing on such
offense. Prompt hearing shall be afforded any
student so suspended. Any student so
suspended who thereafter enters upon
University property, other than at the request
of University officials or of a duty authorized
hearing body for purposes of a hearing, is
subject to prosecution therefor by civil
authorities."

Mr. Boyd writes that he has had verbal
assurance from D. Alan Williams, the Vice
President for Student Affairs, that any such
suspension will be subject to immediate review
by the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Boyd said that he did not remember any
discussion of this issue at the meeting, but Mr.
Middleditch, who was responsible for drafting
the rules, assured The Cavalier Daily that this
clause was approved in August.

Possible Action

Kevin Mannix, the President of the Student
Council, who was vacationing during the two
meetings and unable to attend, discussed
possible action by the Student Council on the
new code.

Council members had suggested possible
rephrasing of some of the rules, which are, Mr.
Mannix said, for the most part too broad. Mr.
Mannix also said, "The interim suspension has
got to go."

President Edgar Shannon emphasized his
opinion on the new rules in an open letter to
Mr. Williams, and expressed his feeling that
student freedom has been increased. He writes
the new code "will significantly strengthen the
maintenance of academic rights and freedoms
within the University and the ability of the
student body through the Judiciary Committee
to protect itself from any interference with
these individual rights and freedoms."