UC-Berkeley code of conduct revisions could curb students' rights
By Kevin Deenihan & Emma Schwartz
Daily Californian (U. California-Berkeley)
11/10/2003
(U-WIRE) BERKELEY, Calif. - University of California-Berkeley administrators are preparing sweeping changes to the Student Code of Conduct that would dramatically change how students can defend themselves against university disciplinary charges, according to a final draft of the revisions obtained by The Daily Californian newspaper.
The revisions -- part of a regularly scheduled review of the code -- would remove students' right to have a lawyer speak for them during disciplinary proceedings and tighten the reins on a student's ability to open a hearing to the public.
"Because this is an educational process, students are expected to speak for themselves," according to the introduction to the final draft.
It is unclear when these changes are expected to be implemented. Three committee members said they had been told Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl approved the revision, but university administrators said last week they would reconvene a campus committee to review the draft.
