Quasi-legal Only
Student Court Defines Role; Seeks Status Clarification
By Maury Breecher
Since the Student Court began in 1936 there have always been questions as to what it is, what it does, and what it can do.
Last week, during its first session, the court decided unanimously it was not a court but an administrative body.
Rick Kastner, chief justice of the student court, said, "The Kansas Board of Regents has established the Student Court as an administrative body, which follows judicial procedures as followed in the State."
THE COURT REALIZED that it was not a Court in the strict legal sense but recognized its responsibility of providing an outlet to the students of KU who feel they have been unjustly handled in student disputes.
In no way does this change the operation of the Court. It was set up by the State Board of Regents in the Constitution of the Associated Students of KU. It is, and has always been, an integral, but non-political part of student government.
Student government consists of three branches, the executive, composed of the student body president and his committees, the legislative, composed of the All Student Council, and the judicial, composed of the Student Court.
James K. Logan, dean of the Law school and former student body president during his undergraduate years at KU, said, "I am glad to see that the Student Court is out of partisan politics."
During Logan's years at KU, the Court was
somewhat a "political plum" as many if its members were not graduate students in law school.
THE PRECEDENT has now been established that all members of the Court are law students. The dean of the Law School appoints the Chief Justice of the Court and submits a list of law school candidates to the student body president.
The student body president approves the list or submits the list to the ASC for approval. He also conducts the swearing-in-ceremonies of the student court justices.
While the Court has sought to clarify its status through judicial ruling, there has been no movement to clarify its position through ASC legislative ruling.
COURT JUSTICES are considering the establishment of a committee for drafting suggestions or proposals to define the role of the Court. These justices would be uniquely qualified to make suggestions which may be offered to the ASC.
When questioned on the functions of the Student Court, Kastner said, "We feel that the Court was not set up as an independent institution but rather as a quasi-legal institution whose purpose is to settle student disputes politically.
"We feel that the Student Court performs an important function at KU as it gives the students an opportunity to have adjudicated those charges of parking violations and other matters levied against them. In this manner, each student has a chance to tell his story to the Court before a final decision is entered,"Kastner said.
Professor Emeritus Lane Dies
Henry Higgins Lane, 87, emeritus professor of zoology, died Friday in Bellevue, Wash., where he had lived since leaving KU eight years ago.
The funeral will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Ramsey chapel
here with burial in Memorial Park cemetery. Rev. Harold G. Barr, emeritus dean of the School of Religion, will conduct the services.
Lane, a native of Indiana, came to the KU faculty in 1922.
4 Daily Kansan Tuesday, October 12, 1965
Viet Cong Escape From Trap
SOUI LA TINH VALLEY, Viet Nam—(UPI)—More than 2,000 Communist troops today escaped a trap laid by the biggest joint American-Vietnamese operation of the war.
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