If you’ve gotten into trouble for alcohol violations as a freshman or sophomore, it’s possible you know through experience what the Student Court is.
If you’ve never been written up, however, you probably have no idea what the Student Court is or what its function is on campus.
This apparent lack of publicity is not because the Student Court wishes to remain a secret, but because by law many of the issues it deals with are confidential.
“The Student Court,” according to the student handbook, “as the judicial branch of the Fairfield University Student Association (FUSA), enables the student government to undertake the responsibility of self-discipline.”
The Student Court is made up of nine undergraduate students, one being a chief justice who leads meetings and makes sure things go as planned. The group meets once a week for two hours, and they deal primarily with cases involving alcohol violations.
“We hear one to two cases in a sitting every week,” said Katy O’Neil ’06. “This year there has been a decrease [in the number of cases] because of the new alcohol policies.”
Ryan Tougias ’06, a member of the court, said, “In a normal case the student will enter the room and sit opposite to the court. He or she will fill out a demographic sheet and hear the report that either an RA or Public Safety has filed. The student then has a chance to tell his or her side of the story before the court poses questions.”
One may wonder why one student would want to get another one in trouble, right? But that’s not actually an issue. The court doesn’t have free reign when deciding what sanctions should be imposed.
“We are really bound by the handbook,” said O’Neil. “But it’s nice for students to have the option to be reviewed by their peers. It’s a comforting and less formal atmosphere.”
Tougais said, “Students generally feel as though the conclusions reached by the court are fair and balanced, and even if found responsible, they have respect for the process and the decision of the court.”
Kim Nickolenko, assistant dean of students and director of judicial affairs, said, “We have had positive responses to Student Court in our office…The student perspective is always helpful.”
FUSA is currently undergoing a constitutional convention, and, because of that, Student Court is also redefining its position.
“Our purpose in the constitutional convention is to determine the role that the court should play in FUSA,” said Tougias. “While some may argue that an increased role in FUSA will indirectly make our procedure more public, it will instead add additional, yet different responsibility to the court.”
O’Neil said that in re-working the system and deciding what they want the court to stand for, there are conflicting interests among members. She said that because the court cannot detail specifics, it limits its abilities.
“We’re reworking what kind of information can be given out,” she said. “It’s a private thing, so it’s hard to decide how involved [the court] can be with the student body.”
Legal factors are also important.
“Student Court hearings cannot be made open to the public, as they hear disciplinary violations for students, and this information is protected by FERPA,” said Nickolenko. “Disciplinary information is not public information, therefore, it cannot be open to members of the community.”
But O’Neil still thought the court needs to be more active with the student body.
“It’s not like we could ever be a body that students can go to and [escape penalty], because we are bound by the handbook, but I would like students to take advantage of being evaluated by their peers,” she said, “Some people agree with that and others don’t.”
Some students think that Student Court is a good idea, even if they don’t know much about it.
“I know nothing about it, but I would think it’s a positive thing because a system like that seems like it would be more beneficial to the students,” said Kristen Wilkens ’05.
Others think the whole judicial process in general is confusing.
“I think it makes sense for [the court] to play a bigger role on campus, but I think that the whole judicial procedure has to be clarified as well,” said Heather Bouzan ’06. “There are so many parts of it that are unclear or that students don’t even know about.”
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