The Residential Judicial Council has been introduced in all residential halls and apartments campus-wide following what its executives call a successful pilot program last year in New South. The Residential Judicial Council will transfer some aspects of campus discipline from administrators to students in an effort to create a more student-centered discipline system on campus. Though we applaud most efforts that give more students power in the University, this is not one of them.
According to Council executives, students should be judged by other students. But this assumes that students will respect their student jurors. Underage students might not respond well to other underage students judging them for consuming alcohol in their dorms, especially when their “judges” might be engaging in similar behavior. This is not to say all students violate campus alcohol policies, but the potential for charges of hypocrisy?especially with regards to alcohol?might be so great as to undermine the entire program.
The Council’s powers are also limited. The Council cannot even hear possible cases involving Category B violations, which might include selling or distributing alcohol to students under 21, unless the students in question have already admitted responsibility. In these cases, then, students aren’t even determining guilt; they are simply dishing out punishment. This has the potential to make hearing boards seem like punishing bodies in a way that alienates students from their fellow student “judges.” Such a result counters the University’s mission to foster community.
Efforts to give students greater control over their own affairs is to be commended. But student-centered dorm discipline should not be one of these areas. While the University might do some things poorly, student discipline is not a comparatively large concern. Students should focus their efforts on protecting their community rights, gaining more control in student government and controlling the way their clothing apparel is made. They shouldn’t focus on punishing each other in ways that might harm rather than benefit the student community.
