Another student accused of an honor offense has elected to hold an open trial, making this the second open trial during the current academic year. The trial will be held Jan. 28 at 10 a.m.
At the conclusion of the last open honor trial, which occurred in Nov. 2005, third-year College students Joe Schlingbaum and Lindsey McClung were found not guilty of collaborating on a series of homework assignments for a political theory class in the spring of 2005. Prior to the November trial, an open trial had not been held since 2002.
Information about the case and the identity of the accused student who has most recently opted for an open honor trial has not been released in case the student chooses to close the trial at a later date.
Though having two open trials in the same year is "unusual," according to Vice-Chair for Trials Stewart Ackerly, the student's decision was probably unrelated to the outcome of the previous open trial.
"It's such a personal decision whether the trial is open or closed, I'd be hard pressed to say it was based" on the other trial, Ackerly said. "I don't think there are any advantages to having it open because it's the exact same process."
Honor Chair David Hobbs agreed the situation was atypical and emphasized the handling of the trial is unaffected by its open status.
"We treat the trial the same," Hobbs said. "Open trial or closed, we treat them the same."
Forty-five tickets will be available on a first come, first served basis at the Newcomb Hall Information Desk beginning Monday. The Committee also plans to broadcast the trial to the Commonwealth Room so that more students will be able to witness the trial.
"The higher the attendance the better," Ackerly said. "We really want as many University students to see what an honor trial is like. We're glad to have the extra space available."
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