So now you’ve read the Iowa State Daily and heard about the Beardshear Eight. You’ve read about the OJA and the AUJ and conduct probation and reprimands and the Buckley Amendment. You’ve read about arguments over open and closed hearings.

And after all the details have been spelled out in the paper, you’re probably left with only one question:

“Huh?”

Well, maybe I can lay it out for you.

It all started Nov. 5 when The September 29th Movement held an unauthorized town meeting in the lobby of Beardshear Hall. Prior to the meeting, Movement members asked Dean of Students Kathleen MacKay what would happen to them if they held the meeting. MacKay said they would probably be brought up on one charge of unauthorized use of university facilities.

At the meeting, anyone who wished to speak to the crowd of 200 people could. Four people spoke. Warren Madden approached Movement members and asked them to move the rally outdoors. They didn’t. The Dean of Students Office planned to bring charges against only the organizers of the town meeting. So those involved turned in more than 65 name badges saying they were all organizers.

Then MacKay chose around 25 people to bring up on charges. Who knows why only 25? Now it gets tricky.

The All-University Judiciary (AUJ) is part of the Office of Judicial Affairs (OJA). The OJA is part of the Dean of Students Office. Grace Weigel runs the OJA, but the AUJ is a judiciary (which is like a committee) that hears cases such as cheating, plagiarism, assault, theft, improper order and other violations mentioned in the Student Information Handbook.

If a case isn’t deemed serious enough to go before the AUJ, the case will be heard before an OJA administrative hearing (which is Weigel).

The handbook classifies three types of sanctions: disciplinary reprimand, conduct probation or suspension.

A disciplinary reprimand is just a written letter saying “you broke the rules,” but it carries no real punishment other than a mark on your record.

Conduct probation is a period of review and observation where the student must demonstrate the ability to comply with rules. The real punishment is that students may not serve as members of university committees or as officers of registered student organizations.

Suspension is suspension from school.

So last semester 16 of the 25 were given OJA administrative hearings and 15 were given disciplinary reprimands. Jamal White, publicist for the Black Student Alliance, was acquitted, although he led the march to Beardshear Hall.

Movement member Paul Stucky was also given a reprimand, but Stucky claims Weigel violated his due process by not informing him that his hearing had been postponed. The whole thing is complicated, but the AUJ decided to hold a preliminary hearing, a procedure that isn’t even documented in the handbook, to determine if Stucky will go before a regular AUJ hearing. Because Weigel didn’t tell Stucky of the postponement, the AUJ would be wise to just acquit Stucky due to violations of his rights as stated in the handbook.

And the remaining eight is the Beardshear Eight we hear so much about. They have requested open hearings because they believe they are being screwed by the university. They claim rampant Buckley Amendment violations and unfair uses of evidence, and they want the meetings open so the public can see how the university, a publicly funded branch of the Iowa government, is treating them unfairly.

On Thursday, Movement members Kel Munger and Taiyon Coleman were given conduct probation by Weigel. (Just in case you needed to know, The Movement is not all black people. Munger and Stucky, among others, are white.)

When basketball player Sam Mack robbed the Burger King in east Ames, he faced criminal procedures, but he also faced AUJ procedures. For robbing a BK, he received conduct probation, not suspension like he should have. Munger and Coleman simply attended this town meeting, neither spoke to the crowd, and both received the same punishment as Mack. Heck, Coleman isn’t even in the police report.

The other six of the Beardshear Eight are awaiting Weigel’s decision. She has until Thursday.

The Buckley Amendment, a federal law, is supposed to protect students’ privacy. This includes grades, records and hearings, but a clause of the Buckley Amendment allows students to waive their privacy rights. This clause is how President Martin Jischke is able to tell reporters Troy Davis’ grades. Troy must’ve waived his privacy rights concerning his grades.

The framers of the U.S. Constitution wanted open courts so the public could see what tax dollars are doing, and to keep the government honest. This keeps the government from railroading citizens who disagree with the government.

This is why the Buckley Amendment has the clause, so students at public universities could make people aware of the university procedures if the students feel they are being wronged.

Do you understand now? Me neither. I don’t pretend to understand this university anymore.

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Tim Frerking is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Pomeroy.