Dean of student Pete Englin says the university’s judicial process “is an educational process, not a punitive one.”

Students victimized by the judicial process are subject to “sanctions,” at times quite harsh ones, like having an organization barred from operating.

What is a sanction?

According to the dictionary, “a provision of a law enacting a penalty for disobedience.”

What is punitive?

That which “inflicts punishment.”

But, according to Englin, a process that inflicts a penalty is not punitive.

Why?

Because for Englin, like Humpty Dumpty in “Alice Through the Looking-Glass,” a word means whatever he wants it to mean.

As anyone who has dealt with the Dean of Students’ Office knows, its distinguishing characteristic is doublespeak.

Jorgen Rasmussen

Distinguished Professor Emeritus

Political Science