The University Judiciary Committee met 6 p.m. Sunday to consider a proposed bylaw amendment that would expand mandatory conduct violation disclosures for members. The Committee also bid farewell to Susan Davis, senior associate vice president for student affairs and longtime UJC advisor.
An amendment to the professionalism standard in the UJC bylaws was introduced by Nabeel Raza, UJC chair and fourth-year College student. The change would require support officers — which include investigators, counselors and educators — to disclose if they are undergoing investigations under Title IX and Office of Civil Rights investigations, or an Honor trial.
As they stand now, the by-laws require support officers only to disclose if they are undergoing a conduct violation investigation.
Raza said that the Committee would evaluate the support officers’ self-reports to determine the best path of action and whether the member should return to their position.
“We would have an internal investigatory process after immediate suspension — basically until those cases are resolved,” Raza said.
The amendment will be voted on in the upcoming week.
Davis then addressed the Committee to reflect on her 23 years at the University — many of which were spent advising and working with the UJC. Davis began in 1999 as associate general counsel and special assistant attorney general at the University, later transitioning to student affairs, then finally transitioning to her current role. She was recently selected to serve as the vice president for student affairs at Northwestern University in Illinois and will leave the University late February.
In addition to her work in student affairs, Davis also served as advisor of the UJC for nearly 20 years and attended the general body meeting as a final farewell to the Committee. She said that UJC serves a crucial purpose in promoting students’ best interests and spoke highly of the Committee’s work.
“It’s been my joy for a very long time to serve as your advisor,” Davis said. “I came in with you [UJC] and got out with [UJC]. And I just hope that you will look back on this as the most incredible, valuable part of your student experience.”
Davis said she admired the UJC’s unique role in student self governance — many other universities have a conduct office run by officials rather than a system run entirely by students.
“I have long thought about self governance as a result of that introduction,” Davis said. “It's actually really incredible, and I don't want you to stop for a moment to not realize this. You hold constitutional power. Right? As students. Nobody else in America owns that.”
To close the meeting, Raza also reminded members about student elections and was hopeful for increased member participation — which in the past has been less than ten percent across the student body. Voting opened this morning and continues until March 2.
Raza’s term as Chair of the UJC expires in 30 days — the new chair will be appointed internally following UBE elections.
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