The University may be slowly moving towards overhauling an obscure and rarely used disciplinary body following a meeting of the Council of Princeton University Community (CPUC) on Monday.
The Judicial Committee, a group of faculty, staff, and students, is intended to oversee some of the most serious student disciplinary cases. It was one of the original committees established alongside the CPUC in 1969. The proposed changes would make the Judicial Committee an appeals body that may also play a small role in coordinating investigations.
Philosophy professor Jacob Nebel, Chair of the Rights and Rules Committee, said that at the beginning of the year, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 had asked his committee to review the Judicial Committee. The Judicial Committee has only seen 10 cases in its 55-year history, and most cases took place between 1970 and 1978. An exchange between Dean of Undergraduate Students Regan Crotty and President Eisgruber seemed to indicate that only one case is currently in the committee.
According to the CPUC Charter, the Judicial Committee oversees cases that involve possible violations of conduct rules and regulations that apply “to all resident members of the University community” and to rules and regulations “whose violation constitutes a serious infringement of the recognized rights of members of the University community, a serious offense against the University’s mission, a threat to the ability of the University to carry on its essential operations, or a substantial impairment of the common and legitimate interests of the University community.”
In addition to hearing cases in their first instance, the committee can hear appeals by individuals who have been found guilty of violating rules and regulations and believe their trial processes were unfair.
The proposed changes will be voted on at the May meeting of the CPUC. They are potentially the first revisions — although likely minor ones, considering the committee’s lack of use — to the University’s disciplinary processes after they came under scrutiny during the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” last spring. At least 15 students underwent University discipline following their arrests at various points during the protests, though undergraduates’ cases were adjudicated by the Residential College Disciplinary Board (RCDB) and graduate students’ cases by Heidi Freeman, an assistant dean in the graduate school.
Discipline processes at universities across the nation, usually quiet affairs, have been thrust into the spotlight as many pro-Palestine protestors from last spring have their cases reviewed. At Columbia University for instance, the Judicial Board, a five-member panel that handed out expulsions, temporary degree revocations, and suspensions for students involved in the takeover of Hamilton Hall, will now be overseen by the school administration rather than the University Senate, in response to threats by the Trump administration to its federal funding.
Nebel said that the committee’s procedures unusually resemble criminal law, and that there were no similar bodies found at other colleges. However, Nebel said that he thinks the judicial system is effective at its appeals role. As such, he said that while his committee will make recommendations to remove adjudication of cases in the first instance from the body, the committee recommends that it should be a mechanism for coordinating cases involving protests and demonstrations with many groups.
At the CPUC meeting this May, the Rules Committee will present the proposed revisions to RRR as well as other policies.
Christopher Bao is a head News editor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Princeton, N.J. and typically covers town politics and life.
Cynthia Torres and Nikki Han contributed reporting.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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