Those who beat Deantrious Mitchell, if caught, may be subject to a trial by the All University Judiciary as well as a trial by the state of Iowa.

The assault case is being investigated by the Iowa State Department of Public Safety as a criminal case. “If charges are brought [against the offenders], they would be state statute violations and would be prosecuted through the Story County Attorney’s Office,” said Jerry Stewart, associate director of DPS.

That takes care of the criminal charges, but kicking the assailants, if they are students, out of school or issuing suspensions or other penalties is a university matter.

If Mitchell files a complaint, the case will be handled as a conduct violation through the All University Judiciary.

“Anything involving assault is taken very seriously by the university and is totally unacceptable at this university,” said Kathleen MacKay, dean of students.

She said the assault case will go through the same process that other incidents go through when filed through the AUJ. Mitchell will have to file a written complaint and describe the assault. From there, the judiciary process will follow standard procedure.

As in a criminal case, the information discovered by DPS and the state trial will be public record. However, information gathered by the university court system and the AUJ trial itself will remain private, protected by a law known as the Buckley Amendment.

“The Buckley Amendment prohibits academic institutions that accept federal funding from distributing student records without the consent of the student,” said Barbara Mack, associate professor of journalism.

Mack said the only thing the institution may release is students’ names, phone numbers and addresses.

Cases can be opened if the accused chooses to do so.

“Our goal is to get the facts and do whatever we can to make our campus a safer place,” MacKay said. “And we want to share as much information as we can without violating anybody’s privacy.”

The university is also subject to another law requiring them to disseminate information regarding safety issues on campus. But MacKay said there is a difference between safety issues on campus and the details of specific cases.

She said disclosing information about specific cases handled by the AUJ is illegal.