New Judiciary System Proposed

Special safeguards for the rights of minority groups on campus have been built into a new judiciary system for undergraduates approved conditionally by Dartmouth's Faculty of Arts and Sciences last month.

At the core of the new system and constituting the primary arm of the College Committee on standing and Conduct would be a 10-member Central Committee composed of an appointee by the President, three members of the faculty elected by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Dean of the College, and five students. Three of the students would be elected by the entire undergraduate student body. Black students would elect one of the remaining two members and Indian students the other.

The Central Committee would serve as a clearing house for all matters within the jurisdiction of the CCSC; would adjudicate all cases of academic standing; and would hear and resolve cases of conduct, except when a student requested a hearing before one of the judiciary panels. In cases of doubt, it also would determine whether a case were a matter of academic standing or conduct. It was pointed out by Physics Professor Agnar Pytte, chairman of the faculty Committee on Organization and Policy which prepared the proposal, that 95 per cent of the student cases coming before the CCSC each year involve academic standing. Therefore, he said, the Central Committee would handle the bulk of the cases under the new system.

Decisions of either the Central Committee or the judiciary panels would be final.

A central feature of the proposal revising the present College Committee on Standing and Conduct would be establishment of three separate judiciary panels which students concerned about possible prejudice or lack of understanding could convene if desired in cases involving charges of misconduct

One judiciary panel would be available for black students, and student representation on that panel would be elected by the black students at Dartmouth. A second panel would be available to American Indian students, and the Indian population on campus would elect its student members. Students on the third panel would be elected by the student body at large.

Each of the panels would be composed of eight members—four students, three faculty, and a non-voting chairman.

A student choosing a judiciary panel to hear a conduct case could designate which panel he wished, and once made, his choice would be final. To fill out the panel hearing his case, in addition to the three elected student members, a student could select from the Central Committee one of the five student members and three officers of the College from among the five faculty and administrative members on the committee. The eighth member would be the President's appointee on the Central Committee, who would chair the panel.

According to the faculty-approved plan, students could be nominated for election to the Central Committee bv means of petition to the Dean of the College bearing the signatures of 20 undergraduates. In the at-large election, the three students receiving the largest number of votes would be elected to the Central Committee and the three students receiving the next largest number of votes would be named to a judiciary panel.

The Afro-American Society, in consultation with the Dean of the College, would conduct an election among black students, who may be nominated by petitions bearing the signatures of ten black students. In that election, the man receiving the highest vote would be named to the Central Committee, while the next three would be named members of a second judiciary panel. If the Indian students request a special panel, a similar election would be held among them, again with the winner taking his place on the Central Committee, and the three Indians with the next highest totals being named to a third panel.

The faculty left the door open to other minority groups to request similar arrangements in their behalf and designated the Committee on Equal Opportunity to receive any such petitions.

The faculty stipulated that the proposal, the product of many months of study by the COP, be presented for ratification by referendum to the undergraduate student body prior to April 15. If the students ratify the faculty action, the proposal for the new judiciary will be submitted to the Trustees of Dartmouth College for approval.

The present CCSC, a ten-man body composed of four faculty, four students, the Dean of the College and the Dean of Freshmen, was instituted three years ago as an experiment by adding to the faculty committee four students to hear student cases of academic standing and conduct. Revision to eliminate demonstrated weaknesses was begun nearly two years ago by the COP.

Reporting to the faculty, Professor Pytte explained that "for the relatively small per cent of cases involving conduct, our aim is to establish a judicial system that would remove suspicion as to its impartiality would build trust among the students as to the equity of its judgments.

As part of environmental studies financed by a Mellon Foundation grant. D.O.C.members examine the effects of snowmobiles on the Dartmouth College Grant.