University officials have agreed to drop conduct probation sanctions given to five members of The September 29th Movement during Jan. 30 Office of Judicial Affairs hearings.

The students have agreed to sanctions of written reprimands instead.

University officials issued an agreement last week for each of the five students to sign. It says that the students agree to a plea of guilty to unauthorized use of a university facility and a sanction of disciplinary reprimand, which leaves a permanent mark on the student’s record. All other sanctions would be dismissed including conduct probation, which prohibits students from holding office in a university-recognized organization.

The agreement says that the students also must agree that no further action, administrative or legal, shall be taken. The students, according to the agreement, give consent to ISU to issue a single public statement on the matter which includes the students’ names. The students — also referred to as the Beardshear Eight — may request that ISU open the records for additional inspection.

Doug Houghton, All-University Judiciary adviser, said no agreement has been formalized, but “should this issue come to finalization, the university would issue the statement outlined in the agreement.”

He said the university didn’t offer the agreement to avoid an open AUJ hearing, as Meron Wondwosen, one of the sanctioned students, suggested.

Wondwosen, president of the Black Student Alliance, said the university decided to enter into an agreement to avoid exposing its judicial system’s fallacies. “They did it to avoid an open AUJ hearing in which all the violations of civil and constitutional rights would have been exposed, but in a way it doesn’t really matter because we will continue to talk about these issues,” she said.

“If [administrators] would have their way, we would have definitely been suspended from school. We’ve been nothing but an embarrassment to this university in their opinion,” Wondwosen added.

The students were charged for their parts in an unauthorized Nov. 5 rally in the lobby of Beardshear Hall.

At the rally, Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance and supervisor of the building, asked the students to take the rally outdoors. Organizers, all members of The September 29th Movement, refused.

Three of the students who received conduct probation hold high-ranking positions in registered student organizations, positions they could have been forced to abandon if the conduct probation sanctions were upheld. The sanctions have been on hold pending appeal.

In addition to Wondwosen, Allan Nosworthy, a graduate student in English, is a Government of the Student Body senator and president of the Black Cultural Center. Milton McGriff, a graduate student in English, is a GSB senator.

Two other students, Kel Munger and Taiyon Coleman, both graduate students in English, were also given conduct probation.

McGriff, spokesman for The Movement, said he and the other four students who received conduct probation decided to sign the agreement on the advice of their lawyers.

In exchange for signing, McGriff said, The Movement has requested four things from the university:

* A permit to hold a second rally in the lobby of Beardshear.

* A public apology from the ISU administration.

* A $3,000 scholarship in the name of The September 29th Movement for needy students.

* Copies of their files from the Office of Judiciary Affairs.

McGriff said the students are willing to sign the agreement and let university officials meet their requests in good faith. Movement members have asked the administration to reply before March 19.

It isn’t known whether any of the requests will be met.

Nosworthy, chairman of The Movement, said the scholarship symbolizes repayment of the $3,000 The Movement spent in legal fees. He said Movement members are willing to hash out details at a later date.

“Given the way 9/29 has been treated by the university, I doubt they’ll give us a public apology,” Nosworthy said.

Nosworthy questioned the university procedure for offering an agreement which dismisses OJA decisions and bypasses AUJ hearings. “According the Student Information Handbook, I didn’t know that could be done,” he said.

It isn’t clear who is offering the agreement on behalf of the university, but Wondwosen said Movement members have been in close contact with Houghton and Dan Robinson, interim vice president for student affairs.

Dean of Student Kathleen MacKay was the complainant for the OJA hearings. She could not be reached for comment.