The rules may be changing for ISU students.

ISU administrators are proposing several changes to the Student Conduct Code to give students more clarity and to provide for faster case decisions and fairer treatment in the various university judicial systems.

One of the most significant changes in the code, which has been under review for the past two years, involves follow-up with the victims of violent acts, threats or harassment.

The revision would allow Iowa State to release information about the outcome of the judicial proceedings to the victims, giving them information on what kind of penalty their attacker received.

Paul Tanaka, director of University Legal Services, said while some people may feel the new policy is a violation of their privacy under the Family Right and Privacy Act, he said he believes the change is the right thing to do.

“We think that people who have complaints should be informed,” he said. “This will give people the information they need for their lives.”

Dean of Students Kathleen MacKay said she also thinks the policy change will be positive for students. She said the university had taken a more conservative position on the Privacy Act, which is why people could be afraid to turn complaints in and consider the process to be ineffective.

“We want to make it very clear that violent behavior is not acceptable here,” MacKay said.

Another way administrators have tried to improve the Student Conduct Code is by implementing some changes in the various university judicial organizations.

Tanaka said there were questions about the fairness of the system between cases in the greek and residence hall judiciaries. He said it seemed the attitude among some students was that cases in the greek system were treated more favorably than those in the residence halls.

To correct this view, Tanaka said the new conduct code proposes a more parallel approach to the judicial cases.

Under the new system, residence hall and greek judicial systems would still conduct the case hearings, but instead of making a final decision on the case, they would instead make a recommendation to the Dean of Students Office.

MacKay said with the information and recommendations given from the hearings, she would make a final decision on the case instead of the judiciaries.

“I feel pretty confident that I wouldn’t get a recommendation that’s out of whack,” she said.

MacKay said the code also proposes a change in how the different judiciary systems are coordinated. The new system would coordinate the main judicial systems on campus so that they would keep a central file on all of the cases heard.

She said this system would speed up the judicial system through the use of due process and keep track of the number and types of cases in which students were involved.

MacKay said this system will help to avoid inconsistency by ensuring that there is a pattern in the severity of cases and the punishment that is implemented.

Even though the code has already undergone several changes, MacKay and Tanaka said the administration is still looking for student input.

“We try to be student-orientated; we try to be student-focused, but we really need the direct student perspective,” MacKay said. “We have administrators’ eyes.”

Tanaka said the proposed Student Conduct Code is available on the Dean of Students home page, which can be accessed through the ISU Web site. He said students can voice their ideas, criticisms or compliments through the home page or at the two forums to be announced later in March.

MacKay also said students should feel free to e-mail her about the Student Conduct Code at [email protected]. She said she would like to have all the input collected by the end of spring semester.

“With people’s feedback, we’ll have a better document,” she said. “I want people to have their input now.”