Judicial Board Finds a New Name

Judicial Board Finds a New Name

by Angela Niecz

Simpson College’s Judicial Board, which rules on cases involving possible violation of student policy, has undergone some reconstruction and will soon be reappearing as the Student Conduct Board.

One faculty member well aware of this change is Associate Dean of Students Stephanie Krauth.

“We wanted to update our terminology, so it fits what other colleges are doing,” Krauth said.

Krauth said that another reason for the name change was that too many students viewed the Judicial Board like a real court of law.

Even though the Student Conduct Board isn’t a court of law, it is still important to the college.

“The biggest thing with a conduct board, when you’re looking at student behavior on a college campus and how to address that, is the importance for students to have input,” Krauth said. “It is important for students, as a peer group, to make decisions on what they want the campus community to be like.”

Junior and Student Body Vice President Tyson Wirtz views the importance of the Student Conduct Board from the defendant’s side.

“It is important to have a board made up of students in order to give the accused students a fair trial,” Wirtz said. “It creates a good representation of what the real world is like by creating a jury of their peers.”

Macy Koch, senior and student body president, spoke of some of the possible cases that might need to be reviewed in front of the board.

“They’ll hear cases regarding alcohol incidences, behavior (and) sometimes academics,” Koch said. “It just really kind of depends on how much goes on.”

Krauth explained how those kinds of cases would be processed.

“Depending on the severity of the case and such, one of the recourses would be (the) Student Conduct Board,” Krauth said. “Then we notify the members. Out of the nine it takes five members to hear a case. We (will) notify the student, and then the student will come forward in front of the board and have a hearing.”

All nine members of the Student Conduct Board will be chosen by Koch and will not have served on the board before.

“We wanted fresh ideas, fresh opinions, and no one to come into the board with an opinion made already on past decisions,” Koch said.

Any students in good standing with the college may be on the board.

“We (would) like to get a broad spectrum, so some Greek, some athletes, some people in band and music and some people who aren’t involved on campus at all,” Koch said.

Koch added that having students that participated in many different activities on campus would create an unbiased board.

About 20 to 25 students applied to be on the newly revised board and Koch is currently choosing which students will be participating on the Student Conduct Board this year.