A University Disciplinary Council hearing will be held Tuesday to adjudicate charges against eight members of Students for a Democratic Society. It will be the first time such a hearing has been held in at least four years.
The eight SDS members are facing disciplinary action following the group's protest of a Corporation meeting in University Hall on Oct. 18. Members of the group tried to enter the building - which was to remain closed during the meeting - to speak with members of the Corporation. But they met resistance from Department of Public Safety officers and University personnel, who officials say were injured during the encounter.
The students face the most severe level of disciplinary action, which can result in separation from the University. They were able to choose to have their case heard by either a UDC panel consisting of students, faculty and administrators or a hearing before a single administrative officer.
Carly Devlin '09, an SDS member who has been charged, said the students chose a UDC hearing because "we thought it would be a more democratic process." She added that members are more comfortable with a hearing in front of a group that includes some of their peers, rather than one administrator.
On the day of the protest, eight students made it up the stairs to just outside the room where the meeting was being held. Seven of the eight charged students have been identified by the University as making it up the stairs, SDS member Chantal Tape '09, who has also been charged, told The Herald in a Nov. 18 article.
The University is alleging that the eight charged students "caused a meeting of the University Corporation to be disrupted," "forcibly entered a University building that was closed" and "caused University personnel to be injured" in the process, according to a letter sent to the charged students by Associate Dean of Student Life Terry Addison. Seven of the students are also being charged with failing to present identification upon request.
The University contends that two DPS officers and President Ruth Simmons' Executive Driver James Trail sustained minor injuries while trying to keep students out of the building, according to SDS members.
The UDC panel must consist of a minimum of five members of the larger UDC, including at least one member of the faculty and some students and staff, said Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Margaret Klawunn. For this hearing, some of the students and staff must be undergraduates themselves or administrators who work with undergraduates.
Accused students are provided a list of UDC members and are able to exclude those they believe could be biased. The eight charged students have received the list and will submit their exclusions today, said SDS member Sophia Lambertsen '11, who declined to comment about whether she is facing charges.
A provision in Brown's non-academic disciplinary code allows cases with "common facts and a common set of evidence" to be heard at once, Klawunn told The Herald in the Nov. 18 article. Students still present their own cases individually, and each student's responsibility is determined separately.
Though the UDC has not heard a case in years, there have been no problems preparing for the case, Klawunn said. "The years when there hasn't been a UDC hearing, the board was ready, trained and could go if called upon," she added.
Among the issues the charged students plan to address at the hearing is the use of force by non-deputized University employees, said SDS member Nathan Bergmann-Dean '12, who also declined to comment about whether he is facing charges.
Simmons' driver Trail and Custodial Shift Assistant Ebenezer Sowah were both involved in physically blocking and removing students from the entrance of University Hall during the protest, though only DPS officers are authorized to take such actions, said Devlin.
Though Klawunn said she couldn't comment specifically on the actions, she said University policies can address them. "It sounds like something the council could be asked to consider in the course of the hearing."
The accused students will continue to prepare for their hearing with the support of other SDS members and their case advisers until their hearing, Devlin said.
"The organization has been really supportive and great," she said, adding that members have spent more than six hours in meetings each week since the incident.
To show their support, at least 25 SDS members wrote letters declaring their involvement in the protest and asking to be charged accordingly, Lambertsen said. They were told that charges would not be made.
"We proceed if there is basis to believe that someone might be responsible for a violation," Klawunn said.
