The University Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Sunday night to pass a reworked set of bylaws, which the Committee hopes will help facilitate better understanding of the system.
The change reorganized the bylaws for clarity and set earlier evidence submission and investigation report deadlines for better cooperation between the two counsels in a case.
The new bylaws are easier to read, understand and reference, said Madelyn Wessel, assistant to the vice president for student affairs.
"It's going to be a much better document for UJC to work with and the community to understand," Wessel said.
Judiciary Committee Chair Katie Graney added the new bylaws will be helpful both to initiators and accused students engaged in a trial.
"While it seems really small, it's really important if you're an accused student and know nothing about our system," Graney said. "It was so difficult to find anything [in the old bylaws] we don't want it to be a frustrating process for students."
The new bylaws make official procedures already in practical use in the system, including investigative reports intended to provide a neutral statement of events and registration blocks placed on students if they leave the University before a trial.
"Students weren't aware of these, but they are in practice," Graney said.
Other more substantive changes to the bylaws aim to provide a less adversarial and more educational process for accused students, Graney said.
"UJC is not supposed to be like Law and Order -- we're trying to get the facts of the case," she added.
Wessel also stressed the desire for a less adversarial system.
"We wanted to place some real pressure on the two sides to deal with each other in a cooperative fashion," she said.
The new bylaws require that both sides make a good faith effort to submit all evidence and any claims for restitution five days before a trial begins. Previously there was no deadline and only the complainant was required to submit a list of evidence.
"It's to foster equal exchange of information, so everyone's working together," Senior Counselor John Shedden said.
Investigative reports will now be turned in 48 hours before the trial.
"It's so there's no last minute scrambling," Senior Investigator Nora Burke said. "It makes the trial run much more efficiently."
Adopting an entirely new set of bylaws is unusual, according to Graney. Bylaws normally are changed word by word, clause by clause, with debate over each alteration, she said.
"This is the first time we've ever done such a huge thing," she added. "We dropped the old bylaws completely and picked up the new ones."
Another addition in the new bylaws is a clause that sets up a system for future amendments to be clearly documented.
"Everything's more clear and to the point," Graney said.
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