The Law School’s Student Conduct Committee has existed for decades. Renamed last spring when the school codified longstanding practices, however, the committee now faces a potential overlap in jurisdiction with the Honor Committee and University Judiciary Committee.
Law School Vice Dean George Geis said the Committee comes as an effort to meet American Bar Association standards.
“We maintain the committee in order to meet responsibilities that are imposed upon the law school by our accrediting agency (the ABA) and by our obligation to certify the character and fitness of law students in with their applications to receive a license to practice law from state bar authorities,” Geis said in an email.
According to section VII of the school’s academic policies, Law students are expected to “maintain high standards of academic, professional and personal conduct…The faculty reserves the right to impose sanctions on students who have violated the standards including but not limited to required withdrawal, suspension and required counseling.”
The Student Conduct Committee, which is comprised of the vice dean and faculty members appointed by the dean, has the authority to determine student sanctions. The dean may review the actions of the committee, but the full faculty will only review a case at the dean’s recommendation.
Another part of section VII states “any proceeding initiated by the Law School Student Conduct Committee is conducted in addition to — and not in lieu of — a conduct proceeding initiated by the Judiciary Committee or the Honor Committee.” The stipulation underscores the nebulous relationship between the governing bodies.
The Law School has its own Honor and Judiciary representatives as well as its Student Council equivalent, the Student Bar Association. SBA President Alex Matthews, a Law student, said the SBA was reviewing the Committee.
“The Student Bar Association (SBA) is looking into the Student Conduct Committee,” Matthews said in a statement. “We have started a dialogue with the administration, and we are in the process of gathering further information.”
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