Crime and punishment: Where is the line drawn?

Recently, criminal accusations and arrests involving several Syracuse University students have caused parents and students alike to question safety on and around campus.

But when a student is accused of committing crimes such as assault, murder or rape, SU must react with an immediate interim suspension.

University responseThough such cases are rare, when a student is accused of committing a criminal act, the Office of Judicial Affairs requests that dean of students Anastasia Urtz suspend the student.

When Urtz approves the suspension, the student cannot live on university property, attend any university events or even continue their studies, said Cheryl Stanley, associate director of Judicial Affairs. The student remains suspended until he or she is acquitted in a court of law.

‘We have to protect the health and safety of the SU community,’ Stanley said.

Stanley said an interim suspension is an administrative reaction to the criminal act. It not only protects the university, but also the students at the university and, most importantly, the victim.

Though the suspension is immediate, the student has the option to appeal, Stanley said. Within 30 days of being suspended, the student can make an appeal to Judicial Affairs. At that point Judicial Affairs has three days to have a hearing with the student.

The hearing, which usually takes about half a day, is an opportunity for the student to make an argument as to why he or she is not a threat to the university community and why he or she should be allowed to stay in school. It is also an opportunity for the reports from the Public Safety and Syracuse Police Department to be reviewed, Stanley said.

The panel that makes the decision to revoke or uphold the suspension is made up of three faculty or staff members. These individuals are selected from colleges and departments within the university that do not know the student and will therefore not have a bias toward or against them.

Stanley said if a student is accused and acquitted of the criminal charges brought against them, they must then still clear their name with the university before they can move on with their life.

If the student plans on coming back to the university, he or she must go through the judicial process either formally or informally with Judicial Affairs before being admitted into the school again.

If the student decides to leave the university, he or she must still undergo the judicial process with Judicial Affairs before their transcript is released.

In the situation of an on-campus criminal act, Judicial Affairs addresses the needs of the university and Legal Services helps the student. Public Safety must work with both parties to assure that their actions are immediately fair.

‘When you make that arrest, you just want to make sure that it’s as fair as possible,’ said

Marlene Hall, director of Public Safety. ‘Just because there’s an arrest made does not mean our work is over – in fact, I would argue that it’s just beginning.’

Working with the studentsEven though Judicial Affairs works to create a safe environment for the students, there are others who help maintain the rights of the students.

‘Sometimes I agree and sometimes I disagree,’ said Gary Sommer, an attorney at Student Legal Services about the decisions of Judicial Affairs immediately suspending students. ‘Sometimes I feel the university has jumped the gun.’

Student Legal Services is a private company separate from the university, Sommer said. The student fee, however, provides his salary.

Sommer said most of the students he meets with are arrested because of poor decisions they made while they were under the influence of alcohol or because of disorderly conduct – situations where the student is not thinking clearly. They usually do not have any previous criminal records and are not considered ‘hardcore’ criminals.

‘Sometimes you have to make some pretty hard decisions,’ said Sommer. ‘The dean can’t send them to prison and the judge can’t expel them.’

Sommer said often the family of victims of crimes committed by an SU student feels that the university and state court system work the same way and should have the same outcomes.

Inspector Michael Kerwin of Syracuse police said this is due to the lack of open statistics available for parents of students to access.

‘You can report a rape to the judicial board and that statistic isn’t going to see the light of day as it relates to what parents want to know because it remains confidential,’ Kerwin said. ‘The only thing that would occur is if the suspect thrown outta school.’

Students who have been suspended from the university because of criminal charges should be judged on an individual basis, Sommer said.

‘I’ve always been interested in the fact that, for example, a student is arrested for an offense, they can be suspended in lieu of the arrest,’ said Michael Lemm, a former Public Safety officer and retired Syracuse Police Officer.

Sommer said in his experience working with both students who have been suspended from the university because of criminal charges and Judicial Affairs, he thinks every case should be judged on an individual basis. The university first suspends the student, and then finds out the circumstances under which they were arrested.

‘I’m looking out first and foremost for the student, while the university is looking out first for (itself),’ said Sommer.

He argues that, after a student has been arrested and acquitted, the university still makes the student jump through hoops.

‘What the argument ought to be is if one system is punishing you, why does another system feel obligated to punish you too?’ Kerwin said.

Public Safety can make arrests if they witness a crime taking place, but if there is a criminal warrant for a student’s arrest, they cannot arrest them. The best they can do is detaining the individual, Hall said.

Hall said, as ‘enhanced authority’ officers, Public Safety Officers cannot carry guns and are limited to protecting university property only. This means that students living in off-campus houses and apartments fall under the Syracuse Police Department watch, which is a significantly larger geographical area they must cover. If an incident were to happen on the weekend, the SPD would take a longer time to respond, Hall said.

Hall said Public Safety’s limitations are currently undergoing a transformation. After years of limitations as enhanced authority officers, they are now training to become P.E.A.C.E. officers – a change which will keep them closer to police officers, allowing benefits such as better trained officers, a gun license and a few more powers of jurisdiction.

‘One of the main goals is to prevent things from happening; prevent them from stealing things and hurting people,’ said Hall.