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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1964)
Nickerson Says Student Court System Not Favorably Received Ity BON COWAN Fineralcl Newt* editor The University's .student court system is not being too favorably received by students and facul tv, but this attitude should im prove as they learn to understand the new discipline system Francis Nickerson, associate dean of students, made this obser vation Thursday as he reviewed the court system's first f e w months in operation. Most students I have dealt with have not wanted to go tie fore the- court,” said Nickerson. "They are not at all sure that justice is improved by appearing before their own peers.” Nickerson said this problem to lx- expected where tiie court mem bers are untrained and inexperi enced In time stodents will be come familiar with tin- system, In- said, and realize the sincerity and dedication of court members and tiii- value of the new conduct code Ilud to Change Thinking "It's doing bolter than I an ticipated," he rommented ‘‘We had to change the- basic thinking of so many people." The court system, set lip fall term, is unlike a normal court, ht explained, since it does not use ‘worn testimony or actual law yers and operates under unclear Iv defined procedures. "Our acts do have the force of law," he said, but ' we have to be more careful than the court is, because we can't always be sure that our procedures are le gal ” t'nder the new student disci pline code, there are six minor Courts for dormitory complexes, the student court to handle more serious offenses and the Faculty Student conduct committee as an appellate group Ambiguities Present Difficulties Fall term the court system had numerous procedural difficulties, and the minor courts were only recently set up. Nickerson said these and other difficulties are due to ambiguities in the discipline code as well as a lack of experi ence among court members I think there are problems in herent in the code itself.” he commented. He said certain dis agreements he has with the code are probably shared by others and will be worked out through continual changes based on ac tual experience lie also noted that educators and legal experts have comment ed favorably on the code Faculty attitude is a problem facing the court, according to Nickerson. "They are very much divided" in their opinion of the court system, he said, and many will not report cases. This results in an unevenness of justice since much of the sue Governor... (Continual from paeje 2) be developed because of all the tourists. Which will then make them major beaches, and then the log burning process will have to begin here, also. Of course the whole Oregon coast may become a smoking danger, but I don’t think so If the log burners and patrollers switch olT beaches everything will be alright. When a major beach is being burned then a minor beach will be free, and then when the minor beach has become a major beach and is being burned, a major beach, which has since become a minor beach, can be used. Thus tour ism won’t be affected And it might even increase. The Burn ing of the Beaches might be come world famous and a tour ist must. Log burning would also solve tlie annual Seaside riots. 1 bet that if he really wanted to, our Governor could provide even more industry. Why, he could ask the highway depart ment to start tearing up Ore gon’s highways or burn its cars or something. Think of the job possibilities there. cess of the court system depends on the willingness of the faculty to report cases. Another major problem the court encountered was a some what negative attitude on the part of dormitory counselors toward the court. This is also being overcome, he said. "I think there’s evidence , that counselors are beginning to be quite free in referring cases. They were more reluctant at first to refer cases to the student courts, he said, since they feared they were losing necessary power. They are now being given au thority in more cases than they were at first and dormitory! courts are "running beautifully.” The six minor courts handled 27 cases as of last week and the main court has handled 15 cases Nickerson said this indicates; "some counselors are obviously not sending cases to courts." Large Range of Cases The main court has handled everything from four plagiarism and cheating cases, resulting in suspension to cases involving late hours violations Even so, they are operating six weeks behind schedule. Resides the plagiarism cases, another student is on strict disci plinary probation for lewd and indecent conduct. Nickerson said two students even withdrew from school to avoid going before the court Only one case was appealed j to the conduct committee and this was denied. These cases will set precedent for the handling of future cases of a similar nature, such as with the penalty of suspension in the plagiarism cases. Legal aid is provided for de fendants by law students but Nickerson said this has been used very little since students are re luctant to involve others in their cases. Emotionally Involved This is a problem since these students tend to be emotionally involved in their own cases and need tho advantage of outside le gal help. So far this has not been a serious problem since most de fendants have admitted to guilt, Opinion Group The Kmerald Opinion Re search Committee will accept new members during the next two weeks. The committee pro vides students with an oppor trinity to plan and conduct opinion surveys. Interested students should attend a meet ing at 7:30 p.m. Monday in Room 301 Allen Hall. For fur ther information students may contact I.arry I»err at ext. 478. lie said. A non-voting secretary of the court, Nickerson said, “I don’t think we'll really know what my role will be until next fall.” This can he determined by studying this year's procedures. He is not willing to be a police man or prosecuting attorney and has been "trying to present al most as impartial an attitude as I can." “This present situation is al most a contradictory state of af fairs,” however, since he is re quired to present cases to the court. Presents Evidence Information on cases is sent to him, then he talks to the ac cused and the accuser to deter mine if the matter is important to be sent to the court If it is important enough, then he pre sents the evidence to the court and the court holds a hearing. The counselor is sort of an “army of my office,” he said, since he is usually the person who must bring the case to his attention. Court hearings have so far been open to the public, but the Fae ulty Student conduct committee will meet Monday to make a def inite determination on this. “Our professional orientation is toward closed hearings,” he comment ed, since coverage by The Emer ald of an open meeting is likely to result in more harm than good Members of the student court arc Frances Dougherty, professor of physical education; Simeon Orowther, senior in history; Joan Yasui, senior in foreign lan guages; Mitchell Rohse, junior in political science; and Gretchen Koenig, junior in elementary ed ucation Another faculty mem her, Chaoin Clark, associate pro lessor of law, resigned six weeks ago and has not yet been replac ed Board Holds Decision On Co-op Architect “There is no need to make a decision now, when we are deal ing with something as important as this,” said Jerry Utti, mem-; her of the Co-op Board of Direc tors at its unofficial meeting last: night. The hoard decided Thursday night to wait for responses from i more architects and for an for-1 mal recommendation from the committee investigating ways to achieve the best architecture. Open Competition Cast Choice Most of the board agreed that they considered the idea of an open competition as the last of the four choices remaining. But Utti suggested this possibility be retained for further considera tion. According to Robert Bosworth, assistant professor of architec ture, competition would not be an abdication of the board’s re sponsibility, but rather it would extend it by having experts make a quality decision. The letter from the American Institute of Architecture in Washington implied that a com petition for such a building might cost about $5,000. The letter also suggested that “perhaps the job is rather small for such a pro cess.” Other Suggestions Offered Reporting for the advisory committee, John Kenyon, assis tant professor of architecture pointed out that, "for a building of $400,000, it would be ridic ulous to decide for or against this method on the grounds of cost. The main point in favor of a com petition, apart from its stimulat ing nature, is its fairness, for not only colleagues try who have shown an interest in doing so, but the present architect could too if he wished. “Other suggestions from col leagues in the School of Architec ture and Allied Arts have amount ed to a panel or committee help ing the board, an extension of this one, or a new one to examine and criticize proposals from the For Better or for Best — Try the CARRIAGE TRADE for • MUSIC BY THE BILTMORES • • DANCING FACILITIES FOR 200 • • BANQUET FACILITIES • • MEETINGS AND DINNERS • • FRATERNITIES - SORORITIES • • FACULTY FUNCTIONS • • DORM FUNCTIONS • CARRIAGE TRADE 160 Park St. 343-6511 Cute little thing pedals bike into LOYAL’S TEXACO service station. Three station men make mad dash to get through door. Smallest and fastest gets to pump island first. “Hello there. Need some air?” CUTE LITTLE THING: “Yes, is your name Loyal?” LOYAL: “Yes. (now you know who is the smallest and fastest) CUTE LITTLE THING: “My Daddy’s going to give me a car next term, if I raise my grades. I'm on probation now, tee hee. LOYAL: “Swell, we certainly would try to keep it in good running shape for you.” CUTE LITTLE THING: “Your station is nice and handy for college people isn’t it?” LOYAL: “Yes. What is your name?” CUTE LITTLE THING: “Linda Ene gred. I’m from Carson. LOYAL: “Oh. do you know Joan Cole mah?” LINDA: “Yes. She is house mother’s ‘little helper’. Isn’t that her cute little green car parked over there?’’ LOYAL: “Yes. she wants to sell it. She is hurtin’ for money.” LINDA: “Tee hee. Ain’t we all. How much does she want for the car?” LOYAL: “70 bucks. Make someone a good little campus car. Do you hap pen to know her phone extension0” LINDA: ‘‘Let me see: it’s 493.” LINDA: “Can you higher my bike seat?” LOYAL: “Don’t you mean raise your bike seat?” LINDA: "Tee hee, yes.” LOYAL: “Take the bike into the lube room and higher the seat for her. Say, I know a girl with a name about like yours. She spells her name Enegren. Know her?” LINDA: “Yes. By the way, what’s the name of your station?” LOYAL'S TEXACO 1888 Franklin Blvd. present architect,” Kenyon said. “We feel that this could become the truly unethical situation,” he went on, “is we were passing judgment on the designs and sending them back with sugges tions without the power to really help in a fundamental sense.” Kenyon reported that the re plies of letters to ten outstand ing architects have indicated an interest, but that it is premature to mention their names. “All ex pressed initial willingness to take on the job,” he said. No reply has been received from the letter to Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect. INFIRMARY Orttinsr tunned through the windows of the infirmary Thursday were Janet Lather*, Sally William*, Lmda Ifel wn, Sandra Ojfren. S«r*an Paddock, Qtreoe Hum. Michael NoMc. Phillip Perlman, Larry Hod v»n and George Rapw. THE BEATLES IS COMING! Don't Let It Happen To You! ERB MEMORIAL Sll BARBER SHOP Tues.-Sat. 8 a m.-5:30 p.m. -5 BARBERS BUY 1, GET 1 FREE! 2 f°r1 WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY SALE FRIDAY & SATURDAY !ghf 'n jcfceery treat! Dairy Queen Olhuemruj; SODAS FLOATS MALTS RIVER ROAD SPRINGFIELD JUNCTION CITY EUGENE