Simply put, we hope the folks over at the Dean of Students Office can put together a Student Information Handbook that makes sense, doesn’t contradict itself and favors students.

The Student Information Handbook was scrutinized back in February when the Beardshear Eight, all members of The September 29th Movement, found themselves at the mercy and whim of Grace Weigel, a program coordinator in the Office of Judicial Affairs.

What was discovered by these students and others who tried to follow their case was the handbook allows administrators and university lawyers to bend rules in their favor.

The Beardshear Eight requested open hearings because in their list of rights, the handbook said they could have open hearings. Under the judicial procedures section, there is a bylaw — Section III, Article 7, page 14 — which states, “The hearing shall be closed unless the accused requests that the hearing be open.” The article doesn’t differentiate between administrative hearings (as was the case with the Beardshear Eight) and All-University Judiciary hearings.

Weigel denied them open hearings. When pressed for a reason, Dian Gottlob, the university lawyer who sat in with Weigel, cited a sentence in Section I on page 12, which states, “Each lower judiciary may establish procedures for administrative hearings of conduct actions.”

That’s highly contradictory. The sentence simply declares that students don’t have any rights when it comes to OJA administrative hearings, and they can be railroaded out of this state-funded land-grant university in a secretive star chamber if Grace Weigel decides to do so.

Obviously, the handbook needs fixing. If the Dean of Students Office can produce one of good quality, let’s hope Gottlob and the other university lawyers don’t reword it with catch phrases which fail to give rights to students during the judiciary process.

Otherwise, we’ll be watching other student leaders get booted out of office in secret trials for representing their groups — just like what happened in February to Meron Wondwosen, president of the Black Student Alliance; and Milton McGriff and Allan Nosworthy, Government of the Student Body senators.