ALANA WINGATE
Staff Writer
Get out your gavels because the University Judicial Board is recruiting student board members for the forthcoming academic year.
The Office of Student Conduct seeks to promote respect among students, resolve disputes and provide instruction to those accused of breaking the Student’s Rights and Responsibilities Act.
“The purpose of the judicial board is to have a fair and impartial panel as an option for a student to have their case heard versus having it just be a one-person review,” said Lisa Newell, the Director of Student Conduct.
Students, teachers and staff make up the members of the University Judicial Board. If a Fredonia student is accused of breaking the school’s Code of Conduct, the Judicial Board offers them the chance to have a fair hearing.
“Like faculty and staff members, student board members help review cases of alleged Code of Conduct violations,” Newell said. “When a student is accused of violating the Code of Conduct, they have a few options. If they plead [responsible], agreeing they violated the Code of Conduct, then we don’t have to have a hearing, but if they plead not responsible, or maybe it’s more complicated, they can choose a hearing.”
A student member of the University Judicial Board is subject to a variety of Judicial Board duties.
“The board members serve as the people [in charge of] interviewing the student, asking questions and gathering as much information as possible about the incident in question to try to come to a fair outcome in the end,” Newell said.
Regarding any important revisions to university policy made during the University Judicial Board’s existence, everything remains current.
“We do our best to keep things relevant, modernized and appropriate,” Newell said. “Nothing jumps out in my mind where I think, ‘we should really change that,’ or ‘we should really update that,’ because we do make periodic updates to make sure that we’re in line and we’re reasonable.”
Out of the 40 members of the University Judicial Board, 15 are students. According to Newell, there are several benefits for those who join the judicial board. Being a board member might look good on a resume for potential employers, boost confidence and connect to certain students’ majors.
“I think any student in any major could benefit, but sometimes students who are interested in political science or criminal justice or psychology or sociology might have a natural interest in the judicial board if they want to go into law,” Newell said.
Qualifications to be a board member include:
-Be a member of the university community for at least one semester.
-Be promoted to sophomore rank by the beginning of the Fall 2023 semester.
-Have a 2.5 GPA and be in good judicial standing.
-Judicial Board members may not be Student Association leaders (including class presidents) or University Senate voting members.
For anyone who fulfills the requirements and is interested in serving on the Board for the 2023-2024 academic year, please fill out the Judicial Board Application and email it to Lisa Newell at lisa.newell@fredonia.edu by Friday, April 21. Contact Lisa Newell if you have any inquiries concerning the University Judicial Board, and she will then get in touch with you personally to set up a meeting once you’ve completed your application.