The University Judiciary Committee and the Honor Committee released case statistics summarizing the activities of the University’s disciplinary groups during the fall 2015 semester.
The Honor Committee published an update of cases and education initiatives in the second newsletter of the semester outlining both the cases processed and the education initiatives enacted by the Committee.
This semester, the Committee has increased efforts to educate students, starting with the first-year class, about its duties and protocol. These efforts included orientations and Lawn Chats, as well as dorm representatives, Honor Chair Faith Lyons said.
“The first group of 27 Honor dorm representatives ensured that every student in a residence hall had access to a peer who could act as a resource for them if they had questions and could provide a connection between first years and upperclassmen in dorms and Honor,” the fourth-year Commerce student said.
The Committee also emphasized the new option to file an informed retraction, by which an individual can admit guilt of an honor violation after they are reported by another University member. This supplements the previous conscientious retraction system, in which an individual can admit to an honor offense before it has been reported by a member of the University community.
“While the conscientious retraction has been around for a couple decades, the informed retraction has only been in place since the spring of 2013,” Lyons said. “As the IR is still new, the [Honor] Committee is still closely following its impact and looking at any modifications that might be necessary.”
During the Fall 2015 semester there was one conscientious retraction and 11 informed retractions filed with the committee.
There were seven hearings during the fall semester, compared to five hearings in spring 2015.
The University Judiciary Committee has also been active over the semester, with twenty-seven cases already tried and twenty-two on the docket for next semester. UJC Chair Mackenzie Austin, a fourth-year College student, said she considers the past semester to be a successful one.
“Our primary duty is trying cases in a timely and efficient manner, and I believe that we did that well this semester,” Austin said. “We did not have to reschedule any cases due to internal error, and that is quite a feat for our committee considering the volume of cases we hear.”
UJC also launched several new initiatives this semester, including UJC awareness week, a UJC newsletter and a new outreach system, Austin said.
Austin said the cases of this semester have been heavier in volume compared to the cases of the Spring 2015 semester.
“I would argue that the cases are a bit different compared to years past,” Austin said. “Generally, the majority of the cases we hear are alcohol and drug related, but this semester we have heard a greater number of physical assault cases, and violations of less common standards of conduct.”
Austin said she thinks next semester will be a busy one for UJC, as she says the committee will not only continue to hear cases, but also hopes to host more events within the University community.
Correction: This article previously incorrectly stated that the Honor Committee held only one hearing and received four informed retractions.
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