In an attempt to persuade university administrators to remove the word “rioting” from the Code of Student Conduct, SGA North Hill legislator Natalia Cuadra-Saez will meet with officials this week to establish a foundation for the change, which she hopes to push through next semester.
University policy lists more than a dozen offenses that could result in a student’s expulsion.
The Code of Student Conduct dictates that students found guilty of assault, theft, vandalism or fire setting — all crimes likely to occur during a riot — could face dismissal from the university. But the Student Government Association passed a resolution about two weeks ago demanding the term “rioting” be removed from this list.
Legislators said they supported the measure because the ambiguity of the term “rioting” — its definition has come under scrutiny since the March 4 riot — may end up punishing innocent bystanders. Although outrage has permeated the university community on behalf of students who have fought charges of rioting following the Terrapin men’s basketball team’s victory over Duke in March, university officials said the policy, which has been in place for four years, isn’t likely to change any time soon.
John Zacker, director of the Office of Student Conduct, said there is little chance the word would be omitted from the code.
“I think it’s a necessary deterrent, and anything less has the potential of weakening that deterrent,” he said.
In February 2006, the Board of Regents — the 17-member board that sets University System of Maryland policy — mandated all state institutions devise a riot policy, prompting the University Senate to recommend “rioting” be added to the list of expulsion-worthy offenses. University President Dan Mote signed the policy shortly after the 2006 riot that followed the women’s basketball team’s victory over Duke in the National Championship.
Zacker said if any changes were to be made to the existing policy, the process would again have to begin with the senate and be approved by the university president and eventually the regents.
“The Board of Regents was very clear in its policy several years ago that necessitated a requirement for expulsion for all institutions,” he said. “Certainly I’m happy to have a discussion with legislators about the nature of that policy and the history behind it.”
That’s exactly what Cuadra-Saez said she plans on doing, noting she will meet with Zacker early in the week and hopes to broach the topic with the senate — particularly the Student Conduct Committee — when it reconvenes in the fall.
“It won’t just be a one-person decision,” Cuadra-Saez said. “It will definitely be a process.”
Zacker said the term’s use in the code is hardly absolute and allows room for individual judgment, despite SGA legislators’ concerns that the language can be applied arbitrarily.
“I think the policy is crafted in a manner that provides for latitude in decision-making but that clearly a statement of expulsion … sends a strong deterrence to the student population,” he said. “If there are circumstances that lessen the seriousness of the rioting offense, there is an opportunity for a lesser penalty.”
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