EDITORIAL: Cuffs deserves a little sunshine

Editorial Board

An ISU student organization that judicial officials at Iowa State have made very much a part of its business may soon face a potentially fatal trial — and, per policy, nobody is answering questions.

From a paltry $94 funding request to an interim suspension while the ISU Office of Judicial Affairs begins an investigation, Cuffs, an organization with the stated goal of educating the ISU campus about bondage and sadomasochism, has made a lot of news this year. No longer — Iowa State clams up when an investigation starts.

“We don’t release disciplinary action taken against any individual or student group,” judicial affairs director Bethany Schuttinga told the Daily after being asked about Cuffs’ interim suspension, which means the group can’t meet on campus and loses university privileges.

Even Harlan “Duane” Long Jr. agrees with the university that bondage and sadomasochism are both controversial issues — maybe about as controversial as issues come in Ames, Iowa. If Iowa State thinks what happens at Cuffs meetings needs to be investigated for student conduct violations, fine. We won’t contest that, and we’ll even commend Judicial Affairs and the Dean of Students office for erring on the side of caution — on the side of protecting students and other members of the ISU community.

But why do judicial proceedings take place in private? Is there even one compelling reason?

Actually, the ISU Student Information Handbook lists five such reasons, the last of which gives the judiciary the right to close any hearing for really any reason:

“The Hearing Board Chair also has the discretion to close a hearing or a portion of the hearing when: … There is another compelling reason.”

The policy does allow the accused to submit a request to open a hearing, although the university can always trump and refuse that request at its leisure.

There are, of course, valid concerns about student privacy and particularly the privacy of student records, federally protected from the sunshine. Logical provisions for privacy, such as imminent danger to a victim or witness, aren’t really at question. Iowa State is not going to put anyone or anyone’s private records in jeopardy during a judicial hearing.

No, the very simple question about this investigation into Cuffs is this: What makes Iowa State University so powerful and objective that it can ignore the simplest of provisions in the Iowa Code by presuming judicial meetings to be private? From Chapter 21:

“Meetings of governmental bodies … shall be held in open session unless closed sessions are expressly permitted by law.”