Welcome to the Spring 2004 issue of the ACPA Commission
on
Judicial Affairs and Legal Issues Newsletter!
The ACPA Commission on Campus Judicial Affairs and Legal Issues is pleased
to bring you this online version of its newsletter entitled XVeritas. A portable
document format (PDF) version is also downloadable by clicking here.
This page is constructed as text only to increase accessibility for association
members and other readers with visual disabilities. Note that the very last
part of the page has the commission directorate body membership listed. Here
is the table of contents:
Letter From The Vice-Chair
We Need Your Help To Publish
Your Next Newsletter!
Q&A With New Directorate
Body Member Brett Sokolow
Look Forward To These
Sponsored Programs At the 2004 Convention
Convention 2004 Highlights
Commission XV Directorate Body
Letter
From The Vice-Chair
Well, folks, this is it. My last newsletter as the Commission’s Vice-Chair
for Publications. That three years kind of came and went. My obligation was
to publish nine newsletters over this three-year period and I’ve actually
put out five. If this were baseball, my average would be great. Output frequency
aside, I am satisfied that my other goals of improving the content, process,
and overall “look” of the newsletter were met. I now turn things over to
Brian Haggerty, who I am sure has many new ideas to improve the publications
area of the Commission.
I owe a debt of gratitude to other Directorate Body members who always contributed
their time and wisdom whenever I asked for help with the newsletter. Pat
Cordner and Jeff Shoup were patient Commission Chairs who always provided
administrative support in a timely fashion. Dr. Lee Bird, who at the time
was the President-Elect of ASJA and remains the VP for Student Affairs at
Oklahoma State University contributed a feature article several issues ago.
Brett Sokolow agreed to do a feature piece for this newsletter. It’s great
when all I have to do is paste and format! I urge any reader to consider
submitting a written piece to the newsletter editor. I also want to appreciate
my previous institution, Virginia Tech, and the folks in the Women’s Center
at my current institution, Iowa State University, who have graciously agreed
to let me use whatever institutional resources were necessary to produce
the newsletter.
I want to encourage folks to become more involved in the work of the Association.
Volunteer or run for election with a standing committee, commission, or core
council. The opportunities to learn and grow while you also facilitate learning
and growth for others are very rewarding.
I regret that I won’t be able to make it to the convention in Philadelphia.
My partner and I are expecting our second child any day now. So while others
are enjoying placement, convention programs, professional development opportunities,
and Philly cheesesteaks, I’ll be installing car seats and putting the crib
back together...oh, yeah, and trying to finish my dissertation! Hopefully,
I’ll be back in Nashville next year. Until then, be well and do good.
Sincerely,
Jeff Cullen
Outgoing Vice-Chair for Publications
We Need Your Help To
Publish Your Next Newsletter!
E-mail your contributions, ideas for articles, suggestions or complaints
to: <bhaggerty@urh.buffalo.edu>.
XVeritas is published approximately three times a year. This edition was
compiled on an HP Vectra using Adobe PageMaker 7.0 and Adobe Acrobat and
web-published using a generic HTML composer.
Q&A
With New Directorate Body Member Brett Sokolow
There are five new members of the Commission Directorate Body that comprise
the Class of 2007. The editor has known one of them, Brett Sokolow, for a
few years. As the President of his own not-for-profit corporation, the National
Center for Higher Education Risk Management, Brett brings a special expertise
that we figure to take advantage of often. Brett agreed to undergo an interrogation.
His answers to my questions appear here:
1) What motivated you to run for the Commission Directorate Body at this
time?
I have been involved with ASJA and NASPA for some time, and decided last
year to get more involved with ACPA. The National Center is small,
and we’re non-profit, so as we grow, we can join more organizations and get
more involved. I had a chance to see how ACPA functions at the 2003
conference, and had a very good experience. With any organization we
join, we want to be able to give to the organization as much as we gain from
it, so when I saw the opening for the Directorate Body, it seemed like a
good chance to get more involved.
2) Are there some goals that you’d like to accomplish during your time
with the Directorate Body?
Yes. I’m very conscious of how much litigation against colleges is
increasing with respect to conduct processes and decisions. Training
still is not a formalized process for many institutions, and with the suit
against UVA last year alleging “supervisory negligence” with respect to an
under-trained conduct body, we have to pay attention. Fortunately,
UVA won that suit. I want to help make sure “supervisory negligence”
never becomes a viable cause of action against college conduct officers.
I also see a key role for risk management in campus conduct processes, and
want to advance that concept, and what it entails, as a future evolution
of the practice of judicial affairs.
3) What three pieces of advice would you give a judicial board about to
hear a contentious sexual assault case?
- Alcohol consumption by the accused is irrelevant. Focus on whether
the complainant was incapacitated.
- Don’t unconsciously elevate your campus’ standard of proof just because
a serious complaint is before you. Follow your procedures.
- If alcohol is not the issue, there really is only one key question:
What words or actions by the complainant gave the respondent a reasonable
indication of permission to engage in the sexual activities that took place?
4) What three pieces of advice would you give an appellate officer about
to review the decision arising from a contentious sexual assault case?
- Make sure that there are clear grounds for an appeal within your procedures,
and that you only grant an appeal when one (at least) of those grounds is
met. Appeals are not automatic.
- Show some deference to the judicial body that makes the initial finding.
They were more familiar with the complaint than the appeals officer(s).
- Where possible, grant the appeal but don’t decide it. It is often better
procedure to return the complaint to the initial judicial body, to rehear
in light of the information underlying the grant of the appeal.
5) Do campus judicial officers have a role to play in helping athletics
administrators address alleged recruiting improprieties? What are some steps
you recommend athletic departments take to limit their risk?
There has to be a collaborative effort. Judicial officers should build
relationships with athletics, explaining the process and the obligation to
refer violations. Judicial officers should come back from conferences
and do presentations for athletics on case law and current relevant events.
Some campuses have a separate conduct process for athletes, and referrals
aren’t even made to judicial affairs. This is crazy. Athletics
departments aren’t experts on campus policy, due process, or judicial training.
Often, it is not judicial affairs but the office of general counsel that
needs to get more involved in oversight and liaison with the athletics department.
Steps that athletics departments can take to limit risk:
Clearly control who your spokesperson is. Don’t grandstand.
- Don’t comment on pending litigation without checking with counsel.
Program educationally for your athletes on hazing, sexual assault, and alcohol/drugs.
Invest in an educational strategy that brings key content through mandated
programs, or mandate your athletes attend university-wide programs, and ensure
that attendance requirements are met.
- Don’t put sport ahead of right and wrong. This is a values issue—we’re
protecting those we ought to be sanctioning.
- Follow-up on rumors and practices that you suspect are problematic.
- Hold athletes to a higher standard of conduct than you would other
students.
- Set-up an independent investigation apparatus and use it.
- Hold coaches professionally responsible for the off-field conduct of
their teams.
- Establish a zero tolerance threshold for athlete misconduct, and enforce
it.
- Bring athletics to the table for campus task forces on alcohol, drug,
hazing and sexual assault issues. Culture change is doomed if key stakeholders
aren’t at the table.
6) The Higher Education Act is due for reauthorization. The last time
around, that process brought us “parental notification.” Do you anticipate
any significant amendments affecting campus judicial affairs in this cycle?
I don’t know of anything on the horizon, but will keep you up-to-date if
I hear anything.
7) Who is your pick to win it all in the NCAA Basketball Tournament (men’s
and/or women’s)?
The lawyers...
Look Forward To These
Sponsored Programs At the 2004 Convention
Elaborating a Risk Management Framework for Hearing Conduct Appeals
Saturday, April 3, 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Convention Center, 110B
Presenter: Brett A. Sokolow
Reducing Student Alcohol Abuse: A Tale of Two Schools
Saturday, April 3, 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Convention Center, 203A
Presenter: Jason A. Laker
Hot Topics in Judicial Affairs and Legal Issues
Saturday, April 3, 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
Convention Center, 110B
Presenter: Kathleen E. Simons
The Impact of Cognitive and Racial Development on Judicial Processes
Saturday, April 3, 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
Convention Center, 107A
Presenter: Jen Day Shaw
Knowledge Levels of Students Regarding Copyright Law of Multimedia Projects.
Sunday, April 4, 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Convention Center, 203B
Presenter: Jasmine R. Renner
Disciplinary Exchange: Impacting Our World in 15 Minutes or Less
Sunday, April 4, 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM
Convention Center, 203B
Presenter: Kate Linder
Convention
2004 Highlights
Pre-Convention Workshop:
Judicial Affairs and Legal Issues Academy
Friday, April 2, 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Marriott, Liberty Salon C
Changes in institutional accountability, federal mandates (e.g. FERPA and
the Clery Act), and increased parental involvement have vaulted judicial
officers into high profile and sometimes perilous positions. Participants
will explore judicial officer roles, responding to substance abuse, utilizing
campus judicial boards, academic integrity cases, applying educational theory
and utilizing assessment techniques. Presented by the Commission on Judicial
Affairs and Legal Issues, this workshop presents best practices to enhance
student learning in challenging political conditions.
Commission Open Business Meeting
Friday, April 2
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Marriott, 406
Convention Carnival
Saturday, April 3
6:00-8:00 PM
Marriott, Grand Ballroom
Commission Directorate Body Meeting
Sunday, April 4
2:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Marriott, 404
Commission
XV Directorate Body
Commission XV Chair:
Mike Walsh
Director of Residence Life
The University of Portland
(503) 943-8113
walsh@up.edu
Vice Chair for Administration:
Deri Richard Wills
Assistant Director for Business Operations
Texas A&M University-Commerce
(903) 886-5800
deri_wills@tamu-commerce.edu
Vice Chair for Education:
Kathleen Simons
Dean of Students
Fitchburg State College
(978) 665-3133
ksimons@fsc.edu
Vice Chair for Publications (Outgoing):
Jeff Cullen
Graduate Student
Iowa State University
(515) 597-2722
jcullen@iastate.edu
Vice Chair for Publications (Incoming):
Brian Haggerty
Assistant Director for Residential Life
University of Buffalo
(716) 645-2011
bhaggerty@urh.buffalo.edu
Class of 2005
Wachen Bedell Anderson
Coordinator of Residential Life, Judicial Affairs
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
(612) 624-2994
ande4173@umn.edu
Daniel S. Cummins
Director of Judicial Affairs
University of Cincinnati
(513) 556-6814
Daniel.Cummins@uc.edu
Christine Reed Davis
Assistant Director for Staff and Judicial Programs
UNC-Charlotte
(704) 687-4944
crdavis@email.uncc.edu
Sara Dodge Henson
Central Oregon Community College
(541) 383-7592
shenson@cocc.edu
Kristen Kawczynski
Housing Judicial Affairs Officer
University of Hawaii at Manoa
(808) 956-3290
kawczyns@hawaii.edu
Class of 2006
Holly Hippensteel
Coordinator of Community Standards
Carnegie Mellon University
(412) 268-2142.
hbh@andrew.cmu.edu
Martin Howell
Assistant to the Senior Vice President & Dean for Campus Life
Emory University
(404) 727-7195
mthowel@emory.edu
Jennifer Sue Oatey
Vice President for Student Affairs
Point Park College
(412) 392-3840
Soatey@ppc.edu
Jasmine Renner
Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership & Policy Studies
East Tennessee State University
(423) 283-4430
jrennerus@yahoo.com
Cheryl L. Stanley
Assistant Director of Judicial Affairs
Syracuse University
(315) 443-3728
clstanle@syr.edu
Class of 2007
Alex Becking
Coordinator of Residential Judicial and Training Programs
Georgia Institute of Technology
(404) 385-4523
alex.becking@housing.gatech.edu
Heather K. Webb
Purdue University
Student Affairs Specialist
(765) 494-1250
hwebb@purdue.edu
Joanna Lindsay
University of South Florida
Graduate Assistant, Student Disability Services
(813) 974-9197
joannaban@yahoo.com
Angela Cottrell
Resident Director/Student Activities Coordinator
Creighton University
(402) 280-1715
cottrell@creighton.edu
Brett A. Sokolow, JD
President
National Center for Higher Education Risk Management
(610) 964-9836
basokolow@aol.com