Since returning to Grounds this fall, University Judiciary Committee members have been working toward settling a large case overload from last semester. Of the 105 cases filed last spring, only 78 had been resolved as of Aug. 31, but as of Sunday, UJC had settled a total of 96 cases.
To wrap up all of the cases, UJC members said they have been holding two trials a night.
“We’re double-booking,” Vice Chair for Trials Grayson Lambert said. “The fact that we can do that is a testament to how hard the Executive Committee is working.”
Of the 96 resolved cases, 90 students were either found or pled guilty. As some cases involved more than one student and more than one violation, 34 students were found not guilty of charges or had charges dropped completely.
Committee Chair Merriam Mikhail said the case overload may stem from the organization’s new online case-reporting system, which is more accessible and allows students to report cases with more ease.
“This is a dramatic rise in case filing,” Mikhail said.
As a result of the increase in the number of cases filed, UJC has seen an increase in its average case-processing time, the time that spans from when a case is filed to when it is sent to a trial or a hearing panel to be resolved. As of Sunday’s UJC meeting, the mean and median case processing times were both 35 days.
Mikhail said UJC’s goal is to have cases sent to trial or hearing panel within 14 to 21 days.
“We are trying to do our best to clear our docket so that we can have our 14-day goal be a reality for us,” Mikhail said.
From the 96 cases that UJC has so far resolved, there have been 116 violations of the Standard 6 conduct, a violation of University policies outlined in the Undergraduate or Graduate Records, which deals with policies governing and regulating University housing. Mikhail said she was not surprised by the figure.
“It is a very frequent trend,” she said.
Of the 116 Standard 6 violations, 77 resulted in the student being found or pleading guilty to the violation and the remainder were dropped or resulted in a not guilty verdict for the accused.
Mikhail noted that she was somewhat surprised by the number of Standard 2 violations. UJC has resolved 25 cases that violated the Standard 2 conduct, which is misconduct that intentionally or recklessly threatens the safety or health of any University member or University property, according to the UJC Web site.
“It’s a high number of Standard 2 charges being brought,” Mikhail said. She added that she recalled former UJC Chair Connor Sullivan saying last year that they had been seeing an increase in the number of student assault on police officers, which could have contributed to the high number of Standard 2 charges.
Of the 25 Standard 2 violations, 13 resulted in the accused being found or pleading guilty, and the remainder were dropped or resulted in a not-guilty verdict.
The committee has nine remaining cases, three of which will be resolved by the end of the month. The remaining six of the nine cases are currently on hold. A case is put on hold if the charge is filed after the student has left the University. If the student wishes to return to the University, for graduate studies for example, the committee will then hear those charges.
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