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A long-inactive disciplinary board that was created to handle cases with broader implications or fewer precedents than the Administrative Board will decide whether to hear a case for only the third time, Undergraduate Council President Matthew L. Sundquist ’09 said.

The Student Faculty Judicial Board is being reconvened as the Ad Board Review Committee is preparing a report for December.

The seldom-used board was created in 1987, but has only heard cases twice before, both in the first two years of its existence.

One student believes this is due to pressure from administrators.

“Resident Deans, to my knowledge, generally very strongly discourage students from attempting this option,” wrote Max H. Y. Wong ’10 in an e-mail. Wong appeared before the Ad Board last year, and is now considering running for Undergraduate Council president.

SFJB policies depart in several ways from the Ad Board’s. Unlike the Ad Board, it includes student representatives. In addition, students appearing before the SFJB may call people to speak in their defense and ask that sessions be made public, which they cannot before the Ad Board.

“These are very different tenets than you associate with what the Ad Board does,” said Sundquist, who won the UC presidency last fall on a platform of Ad Board reform, and serves on the Ad Board Review Committee.

“This case might highlight some potential solutions to the Ad Board problem,” Wong said. “I strongly advocate the judicial nature of the SFJB over the educational nature of the Ad Board...I have hope that the decision from the SFJB will be more open and accountable than those of the Ad Board.”

Students who face disciplinary action may request that the SFJB hear their case. If the Ad Board does not object, the case will automatically be heard by the SFJB. If it does object, the SFJB will still decide the case unless a majority of its members vote not to decide the case.

The twelve-member SFJB will be made up of six students—four undergraduates and two graduates—as well as faculty and administrators. The UC will work with the secretary of the board to find four undergraduates in good standing to serve on the board for the remainder of the year. The faculty members will be chosen this week, likely by Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith, according to Sundquist.

Students may appeal decisions made by the Ad Board and the SFJB to the Dean of the College or to the Faculty Council if they are facing expulsion or required withdrawal. Such appeals have been rare. But, said Sundquist, “there is a trend toward more people considering the idea of appealing a case.”

Sundquist said that the reform committee will discuss the case before the SFJB as it unfolds. “It’s hard to know what’s going to happen because it’s uncharted waters for everyone,” he said.

—Staff writer Alex M. Mcleese can be reached at amcleese@fas.harvard.edu.


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