Sr. Tutors Gain New Role in Discipline

In a year that has seen heightened attention focused on the College's closed-door disciplinary system, the Faculty Council has approved changes in the way the College deals with students facing serious disciplinary action.

The suggestions are the work of an ad hoc committee formed during the debate surrounding the dismissal of D. Drew Douglas, Class of 2000, following charges of rape. They include increased intervention on the part of senior tutors and assistant deans of freshmen when students face both Harvard disciplinary proceedings and potential legal charges.

"As individuals become more litigious in their attitudes, the intersection between College disciplinary policy and the legal process becomes more complex for this school and for every school." said committee member Peter T. Ellison, associate dean of the Faculty.

The tutors and assistant deans will now take an active role in encouraging students who may need a lawyer to hire one and will also have a memorandum available to give students accused of "very grave crimes," according to Secretary of the Faculty John B. Fox Jr. '59.

"No doubt resident deans have been so advising student for decades. This proposal would simply put such advice in writing," Fox wrote in an e-mail message.

The tutors and assistant deans will also explicitly tell students they can offer advice on legal matters. This change is mostly semantic as both officers already counsel students in such situations.

According to Richards Professor of Chemistry Cynthia M. Friend, a Faculty Council member, the changes were adopted in part to prevent students from feeling uneasy about offering up information that could be damaging in later criminal proceedings.

"We wouldn't want students to incriminate themselves through our process," she said.

Faculty members were quick to term this a review of the College's disciplinary procedures, and not a criticism of the process as it functioned this year.

"A number of Council members felt that in the face of two very difficult cases this year, the College's present procedures had worked very well indeed," Fox wrote.

The council rejected a suggestion by the ad hoc committee that the Administrative Board look favorably on a student's decision to be forthright in College disciplinary proceedings. Fox said the council decided to maintain their