The University of Idaho began enforcing a new change to the Student Code of Conduct Feb. 1 — an expansion of the university’s jurisdiction to off-campus activity.
Although the parameters of that jurisdiction have yet to be defined, many students — including the ASUI senate — reacted to the changes with a mixed bag of emotions. ASUI President Max Cowan said there are definitely still some unanswered questions, and many fiery reactions may be due in part to a murky understanding of the change.
“The Dean of Students Office has a mission to keep students safe and healthy and successful. And with that I have good faith that with the expanded jurisdiction, they will take that opportunity to better serve students,” Cowan said. “With regards to the unanswered questions though, I don’t think an expanded jurisdiction means the Dean of Students Office has the opportunity to call into question all actions of students — regardless of where they take place.”
ASUI Sen. Grady Hepworth admits that had a vote come up, he wouldn’t have supported it, but said he believes there are merits to the policy. According to Hepworth, UI was the only institution in the state that did not have a similar jurisdiction policy in place. The biggest issue he has, however, is the way it was handled.
“I was kind of shocked,” Hepworth said. “They moved it through really quickly. The Dean of Students came in and presented to us, and said ‘we’d love to have more info from you.’ So we set up a task force and got a lot of work going into it, but from what I can tell … (it was) signed into effect before there could really be a formal discussion.”
Hepworth is not alone. According to President Pro Tempore Anthony Filicetti, though it was always within the president’s power to enact the change, doing so was to spit in the face of students who pay to attend UI. Filicetti said he wouldn’t be surprised if there is backlash from the decision.
Filicetti, who headed the senate’s efforts on the jurisdiction policy, said while he would have favored something less strict, there were many senators who were in favor of a more rigid policy. Ultimately, though, Filicetti said he’s happy with how everything turned out.
“The jurisdiction policy is a lot more positive than it is negative,” he said. “It’s way, way, way more positive. That’s something I’ve been trying to impress upon people I talk to. The Dean of Students isn’t going to go out of their way to prosecute students, because they don’t have time for that. It’s going to be used to keep students at UI safer.”
Filicetti said he doesn’t believe the policy will be readdressed. However, Cowan said he hopes to see the policy refined in the future. Cowan said the biggest goal should be creating clear guidelines everyone is comfortable with and that everyone understands.
“I think we still have a ways to go in creating guidelines in the university,” Cowan said. “I think that process will address a lot of the confusion, I know we as students have, with the idea of expanding jurisdiction. I think it will be a process that provides students with more opportunity to define and limit the university authority. I think those guidelines … will and should be drafted by students in consultation with the Dean of Students Office.”
Hepworth said in a perfect world ASUI, GPSA, SBA and faculty senate would work in conjunction with each other to pass changes to the Student Code of Conduct.
“We reason that, at the university, all governing laws apply to us more than other members of the university, and we deserve our right to have a say,” Hepworth said. “(Students) need to know that they will be held accountable for their actions by the university, and they do need to educate themselves. It’s not going to be a witch hunt — you see on Facebook, people who think (the policy) is challenging them not to do something in their own apartments, but they also have to realize that they will be held accountable, and if they get in trouble with the law, it will affect their ability to continue with their education.”
Hannah Shirley can be reached at [email protected]