The University Judiciary Committee may not have to wait until April for the Board of Visitors to hear its proposed revisions to the 12 Standards of Conduct.
Earlier in the week, UJC officials were told they would have to wait three months for the Board to examine the changes, but yesterday University Rector John P. Ackerly III said he would consider calling a special executive session to look at the Standards before the UJC term ends.
Lori Willy, assistant to the vice president for student affairs, informed UJC Chairwoman Lissa Percopo Monday that the UJC would be placed on the Board's student affairs agenda for its April meeting. This meeting takes place four days after the current Committee's term of office ends.
The Board did not have time to hear the revisions at its January meeting. Yesterday, Ackerly said another reason the Board removed the proposals from the agenda was that they needed to be further reviewed by the University General Counsel's office. But if UJC "told us [the revisions] were important enough to deal with this semester before they go out of office, we would be glad to consider calling an Executive Committee meeting to decide on the proposals," he said.
The Board's Executive Committee is empowered to act in place of the full Board and, if it deemed it appropriate, could enact the changes, he said.
William W. Harmon, University vice president for student affairs, said the UJC has been working with the General Counsel throughout the preliminary Standards revision process and does not foresee the office needing to take a long, in-depth look at the revisions.
The Board adopts the University's Standards, which describe behavior prohibited for enrolled students. While the UJC is charged by the Board with the job of adjudicating the Standards, the Standards only can be revised or amended by vote of the Board.
Percopo said the UJC has not ruled out any plan about how to present the Standards revisions to the Board, but a dual presentation by old and new committees in April would be ideal.
She said she would not want to push the Standards to be adopted by the Board late in her term and leave it to the next Committee to figure out how to incorporate the changes. She added, however, that the Committee is willing to consider the Board's Executive Session option.
According to UJC members, the most significant of the six changes would split the current Standard One into two separate Standards. The proposed change would place physical and sexual assault in a completely different Standard from "conduct which intentionally or recklessly threatens" a person's health or safety.
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