The failure of randomly selected student jurors to report for duty caused the Honor Committee to postpone a trial this past Sunday.
This is the first time in the past six years a lack of jurors has prevented an Honor trial from taking place, Honor Committee Executive Secretary Mary White said.
The honor constitution requires at least two students on the jury to be from the school of the student being tried. In the case of the postponed trial, this requirement could not be fulfilled, preventing the student from receiving adequate due process rights.
Finding sufficient jurors from schools with smaller student populations makes fulfilling the requirement difficult, Vice Chair for Trials Brian O'Neill said.
"Sometimes it comes up where it's a close call, [and] this time it came up on the wrong side of the fence," O'Neill said.
White said between 120 and 150 randomly selected students are notified by letter that they have been selected for jury duty for an Honor trial. Selected jurors are requested to attend an orientation session headed by O'Neill, or to contact the Committee if they have a conflict.
With this case, some of the potential jurors were e-mailed their notifications, and some were e-mailed a second time when they did not respond initially. Some were never e-mailed in the first place and were only sent letters -- this could present a problem as some of the addresses on the registrar's list are the home addresses of students rather than their school addresses, O'Neill said.
"One of the major things I've been working on is making sure those requests are e-mailed," he said.
Students that don't respond to a jury summons are subject to action by the University Judiciary Committee.
"I would not be in the business of going after people just for the sake of it," O'Neill said. "But [judicial action] is not something that I would ever say is off the table."
Honor Chair Ben Cooper expressed concern at the lack of response to juror requests, adding that serving on honor juries is an important responsibility of students.
"The student body passed [a referendum requiring students to serve on honor juries], and the corollary of that is the responsibility to serve," he said.
The trial will be postponed until the student can receive a fair trial -- potentially until next fall semester, though O'Neill noted the proceedings could take place over the summer.
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