The referendum will ask you if the policy should stay the way it is now:
"Should faculty from a student’s own unit sit on the disciplinary hearing board of a sexual assault case involving that student (as is currently the policy)?"
Go to sg.uchicago.edu and vote NO on Referendum 1 to encourage UofC to adopt a fairer, more sensitive, and more sensible sexual assault policy! Please...
[read more] The referendum will ask you if the policy should stay the way it is now:
"Should faculty from a student’s own unit sit on the disciplinary hearing board of a sexual assault case involving that student (as is currently the policy)?"
Go to sg.uchicago.edu and vote NO on Referendum 1 to encourage UofC to adopt a fairer, more sensitive, and more sensible sexual assault policy! Please invite all your undgrad and grad friends from UofC, and encourage them to vote NO on the status quo!
The current procedure forms a committee from faculty of the accused's academic division to judge the sexual assault case. This leads to several main problems:
PRIVACY
• The accused, whether found guilty or innocent, may find a private matter thereafter impacting his or her academic life because of the involvement of his or her faculty.
• If the accuser is in the same academic unit as the accused, the accuser may be discouraged from bringing a case before the University out of a desire not to discuss such private matters before his or her own faculty.
CONSISTENCY
Currently, each unit follows its own process regarding sexual assault disciplinary hearings for its students. The lack of one consistent process can create confusion for the students and faculty involved, and raises issues of fairness, as different students are subject to varying standards and procedures.
ETHICS
There is a potential conflict of interest between faculty members’ desire to protect their students’ and their unit’s image, and the members’ duty as impartial judges and disciplinarians.
This referendum is the latest strategy of a two year effort; check out some of our history here:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=50173551159&ref=ts
