At its weekly meeting Sunday night, the Honor Committee heard concerns raised by a recently created support group for students accused and convicted of honor offenses.
A group of students who have either been charged or currently are dealing with an honor offense have come together recently to form a support group called the Accused Outreach Program. Ideally, accused students can use this group in the future, third-year Law student Sam Leven said.
Leven, who is not a member of the group, added that he was thrilled to see that this group put together.
The Committee does all it can to help students psychologically during the trial process, said Leven, who used to serve as president of the now-defunct student group, Hoos Against Single Sanction. But, there are "limits to what it can do."
The new program offers a service to students that the Committee and Counseling and Psychological Services cannot, Leven said, because it can use firsthand experience of what going through the experience is like. No amount of training can provide the same kind of support and empathy that someone who has gone through the process can, Leven said.
Because he supports the group, Leven became concerned when the support group came to him and said that the Committee had "shut down" its correspondence.
A member of the group, who is a convicted student from the University and wished to remain anonymous, said the group contacted the Committee via e-mail and suggested that it be used as a referral group Honor advisers could suggest to accused students, similar to CAPS.
This language however, is problematic, as the committee cannot "refer" students to outside groups due to liability issues, Leven said, adding that "the choice of words that were used by the group ... were not the best way" to get through to the Committee.
Honor Chair David Truetzel confirmed that the group was "not something the Honor Committee can endorse" because of liability reasons.
Nevertheless, the students within the support group described the e-mail correspondence between the group and the Committee as "pretty curt." Leven thus wanted to address the miscommunication between the group and the Committee to clarify intentions on all sides.
"All they want from the Honor Committee is to know that they exist," Leven said, noting that the Committee does not need to either encourage or discourage students to go to the group. The group just wanted to let the Committee know that they are there for "students to utilize their services," Leven added, and are not affiliated or supported by the Honor Committee or the University.
Leven handed the Committee a set of flyers that described the Accused Outreach Program, the services it provides and the group's contact information, which he said could be given out by Honor advisers to accused students if they chose.
Although Leven spoke before the Committee to clarify what he said was a "miscommunication," he also made it clear that he is not officially affiliated with the group and just wanted to speak on his own behalf.
Right now, Truetzel said he is still "undecided" as to how much he is going to have the Honor Committee refer the group to accused students.
"There is no way I can stop them from forming this support group," Truetzel said after the meeting, adding that "they are more than welcome" to come together and advertise as much as they want. "The only thing I can control is to what extent that Honor Committee informs accused students about the group."
In response to other concerns raised about the emotional and psychological stress students accused of an honor offense undergo, Vice Chair for Investigations Mary Siegel said two members from CAPS will come to adviser training to discuss several issues about psychologically distressed students, including signs that students are not coping well with stress and how to treat overwhelmed students.
Both Siegel and Truetzel said they see this as an important improvement in the training of Honor advisers. Currently, the Committee provides trained advisers to students going through the process, who can then refer students to CAPS.
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