6A / NEWS / MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2011 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
University proposes changes to Code of Student Rights
BY ANGELIQUE MCNAUGHTON amcnaughton@kansan.com
A student subcommittee is conducting a formal review of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities and will present suggested revisions to the student rights committee Wednesday night.
Student Success is responsible for the majority of items under review, though students were encouraged to submit suggestions.
The University of Kansas is proposing revisions to five articles in the student code that officials say need changing.
need changing.
Some of the revisions would give University officials the authority to become involved in situations involving a violation of the law on and off campus. University officials also seek to re-write the language in
articles addressing hazing and student organization accountability.
A subcommittee — made up of about 15 students — met last week and discussed the University's suggestions. Jane Tuttle, the assistant vice provost for Student Success, and Nick Kehrwald,the student conduct officer, represented Student Success and offered suggestions for the revisions.
Committee member Felix Zacharias, a first-year graduate student from Wichita, said the hastiness of these discussions is worrisome because last year's review spanned a semester and resulted in no changes.
"I'm not going to say it is irresponsible but it is our job to be worried because these changes are going to affect 30,000 students," Zacharias said. "KU is a very liberal campus
and these changes would alter that not in a negative or positive way."
A formal review of the code occurs every two years but students have the authority to suggest revisions every year.
Two of the items up for revision involve situations where a student breaks the law on or off campus.
The current article states that "no inquiry is permitted into the activities of students away from the campus where their behavior is subject to regulation and control by public authorities."
authorities.
The revisions would enable the University to institute disciplinary proceedings against a student for off campus conduct if it poses a "significant threat to the safety or security of the University community."
Examples of that include a student distributing drugs or possessing a
significant amount of firearms.
significant. Tuttle and Kehrwald say these changes cover gender-based equality under Title 9 involving incidents of sexual misconduct or harassment.
"We need that flexibility for health and safety concerns," Tuttle said. "We're asking for the bare minimum here and nothing that the average student could say, 'Oh, I could be in trouble now."
cern to the campus community.
The University would also like to see some re-wording of the article dealing with on-campus student violations of the law to allow the
Kehrwald said jurisdiction and boundaries tend to be arbitrary and that shouldn't stop authorities from handling instances that are a con-
"We need that flexibility for health and safety concerns."
JANE TUTTLE
Assistant vice provost for Student
Success
University to pursue proceedings in those situations.
Another threshold within the code the University wants lowered is the ability to hold student organizations accountable.
As it stands, the legal system takes the lead and the University must display a clear and distinct interest which Tuttle says is a
high standard.
Under the current language, "organizations, their officers, and/or individual members" may only be held responsible if having prior knowledge, participation in, or encouragement of conduct prohibited under subsequent rules Student Success wishes to strike this line regarding prior knowledge.
The final article that the University said needed revisions regarded hazing.
Tuttle said she was starting to realize that students were unaware of what exactly constituted as hazing.
The sub-committee plans to meet a couple more times to finalize the revisions and the language prior to going before the Student Rights Committee.
- Edited by Brittany Nelson
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According to the Kansas Turnpike Authority, Friday the longest delays can be expected during: Evenings
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The crowd roared in approval as Moore implored demonstrators to keep up their struggle against Republican Gov. Scott Walker's legislation, comparing their fight to Egypt's revolt. He also thanked the 14 state Democratic senators who fled Wisconsin to block a vote on the bill, saying they'll go down in history books.
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