“I feel a little like I’m on trial,” said university President Dan Mote, who spoke to the SGA last night in the Student Union.

University President Dan Mote made a rare appearance at the SGA meeting last night to discuss a wide range of student issues and answer questions about the new riot policy.

He appeared for a little more than an hour and took questions from legislators and Student Government Association leaders, reiterating his stance that rioting would no longer be permitted, telling legislators: “People’s tolerance for this type of behavior is pretty much done.”

In April, a new university riot policy took effect that would allow officials to hand down their harshest punishment – academic suspension or expulsion from all of the 13 University System of Maryland institutions – to those found to have broken the law in after game festivities.

SGA leaders like Executive Vice President Kyle Carson raised questions over whether the university was working to educate the student body on the more serious consequences of rioting, and Mote passed the questions off to Vice President of Student Affairs Linda Clement, also in attendance.

Clement told the SGA that officials would be placing two ads in The Diamondback directing students to a website detailing the riot policy. She added that students in orientation and many of the introductory courses such as UNIV 100: The Student in the University were being warned as well.

“We don’t want anyone to be caught unaware,” she said.

After the meeting, Carson expressed concern that the administration was not doing enough to inform upperclassmen.

“[The plan] seemed to be aimed more at freshman which is good, to create a society without rioting, but I would have liked hear more aimed at older students,” Carson said in an interview.

Carson and SGA President Emma Simson also pressed Mote on the possibility of an alternative after-game celebration being offered to provide an outlet for students. Carson said the campus affairs committee was working on the idea of providing an alternative party on the mall where a DJ would play music, prizes would be given out and speakers from the Athletics Department would be present.

After Mote was told that a smaller version of Carson’s plan was tried last year, and had cost $15,000, he questioned how much more would need to be spent for a celebration on the scale of the gathering on Route 1.

“That’s a scholarship,” Mote said, referring to the $15,000. If the celebration was bigger, he asked, “How many tuitions are we talking about?”

SGA leaders also asked Mote where the city fits into Mote’s vision of the university’s future. He responded that while the university couldn’t ask for a better location with its proximity to Washington, the city has been indecisive about what direction to take when it comes to development and traffic issues.

“It’s a bit conflicted working with the town,” Mote said. “The town is a bit conflicted about what it wants to do,”

Mote added that traffic was becoming a major concern for the both the city and the university as the two struggled to find better ways get students – the majority of drivers on Route 1, he said – to the campus without clogging the road, and mentioned the study of a connector road from Comcast Center to the Capital Beltway as a possible solution.

SGA leaders also peppered Mote with questions over whether the controversial cost containment measures, which were implemented during lean funding years starting in 2002 would be reversed now that the state has provided greater funding for higher education.

Mote said that while he understood the impact decreased funding for university departments had on students the university still faced significant financial issues.

“I don’t think you can expect big reductions in cost containment,” Mote said. ” We’re not exactly flushed with funds”

Both SGA leaders and Mote described the meeting as an improvement over last year’s meeting in which Mote was disappointed by the SGA’s questions. “I was happy to clarify my statements [from last weeks address],” said Mote.

Contact reporter Alan J. McCombs at mccombsdbk@gmail.com