ISU officials defended adding provisions to university and regent disciplinary actions in front of a crowd of two people Thursday.

Four ISU officials were joined by Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, and Jon Shelness, a student advocate from Slater, to discuss the policy changes that more clearly define mass disturbances and the penalties that should be enforced for such acts. No students were present at the forum.

Quirmbach said the revisions were proposed because both regent and university policies needed to be updated based on recent incidents involving Veishea and Northern Iowa’s Homecoming. Amendments to the policies would also broaden the definition of “on- campus” activities.

The changes in the university’s policy would cover three specific areas, university counsel Paul Tanaka said. The first revision deals with a prohibition against interfering with safety officials. The second revision reclassifies “group disturbances,” like rioting, as a more serious violation of university code. The last provision changes the way the university will handle students who are charged under the policy’s new definition.

“Students may be suspended on an interim basis,” Tanaka said. “Typically, there is time between being charging a student and the hearing. [Under the new procedures], students can be suspended before a formal hearing is held.”

Tanaka said students would have the right to ask for a hearing within 48 hours of being charged.

Quirmbach, who was at the forum representing a student, raised concerns about the nature of the policies in actions.

He said taking disciplinary actions on state and local levels for the same violations already covered by municipal codes and state laws is double jeopardy, which protects people from being charged twice for the same crime.

“When the university identifies a crime that is also defined, it puts students in a situation where they could be punished for the same crime twice,” he said. “I have serious civil liberty concerns about that.”

Dean of Students Pete Englin said if both proposals were approved, the regents’ policy would take precedent if there were inconsistencies.

Shelness said he has always been critical of how land-grant universities handle riots and is tired of listening to city and school officials talk about how each of the new restrictions, like a keg ordinance, are only a piece of the puzzle in preventing future incidents.

“It fascinates me that students aren’t here,” he said.

Shelness was also critical of the handling of making Ames and Iowa State one community.

“It’s my opinion that students come here feeling like gypsies — like they’re just passing through — and the rules being made are only here to keep them in line while there here,” he said.