|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Rice Thresher
Phone:
|
by Brian Stoler thresher editorial staff Former Sid secretaries Patrick B. Murphy and Vinay Kini were sentenced to one semester of suspension in connection with the Oct. 24 Sid Richardson College Council minutes. Kini declined to comment on the case, but Murphy said he spoke on Kini's behalf. Murphy and Kini are planning to appeal to President Malcolm Gillis, Murphy said. Normally such an appeal would be directed to Vice President for Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho, but since Camacho filed the original complaint, Gillis will hear the appeal. Acting Assistant Dean for Student Judicial Programs Allen Matusow said they have until Jan. 16 to file an appeal. Matusow told the students of their suspension at a meeting yesterday afternoon. "He told us what our punishment was and handed us letters explaining that we had violated all three charges," Murphy said. The two Sid sophomores were told their violations were inflicting or attempting to inflict mental harm, violation of Rice's sexual harassment policy and discrimination on the basis of sex. The complaint was sparked by the back page of the Oct. 24 minutes. The top of the page reprints an opinion column from the Oct. 13 issue of The Rice Thresher, and at the bottom is a parody of the column. The original column, "Registrar and financial aid eventually fix glitches," was written by Sid sophomore Jessica Dunn. The parody was titled "Great things about me that everyone should know," and included insults about Dunn, including comments like "You Are a Dumb Bitch" and repeated statements that she has sex with her twin sister Danielle, also a Sid sophomore. Jessica and Danielle Dunn declined to comment on the case. Kini and Murphy sent an apology for the minutes to the Sid listserv the day after they were published. Jessica and Danielle Dunn each sent messages to the listserv later that day acknowledging the apology and thanking members of the college for their support.
The complaint In the few days after the minutes were published, the Dunns expressed no interest in bringing the issue to the university judicial system, Sid President Laura Rees said. "When I offered to take the issue to a higher level for them, because it was a big deal, they said that they were comfortable with the way that Sid had dealt with the issue, and that 'Sid Rich rules,' that they had had so much support from the community that that was enough," Rees said. Sid Master Steve Cox said the Dunns' parents showed the minutes to Camacho. "My understanding is that the parents of the Dunn girls brought the minutes to the vice president's attention," he said. "He chose to act on those minutes by filing a complaint." Camacho was unavailable for comment. Rees, herself a former Sid secretary, said the Dunns' mother also filed a complaint with Matusow after Camacho did. "I don't understand why somebody from outside the Rice community is allowed to file a complaint in the first place," Rees said. Mrs. Dunn could not be reached for comment. Rees said Camacho told her he filed the complaint to protect Kini and Murphy from possible legal action. "He thought he was protecting Patrick and Vinay ... from the outside world," she said. The complaints allege three violations of the Code of Student Conduct: mental harm (violation 1a); violation of a university policy, the sexual harassment policy (violation 1b); and discrimination on the basis of sex (violation 1h). According to the sexual harassment policy, "Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination which is prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and by the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act. Rice University's Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Policy also prohibits sex discrimination."
The subcommittee Matusow said he decided to assume original jurisdiction over the case, though he declined to explain the reason for this decision. Murphy said he was disappointed the case was not going to University Court. "It saddened me because I realized that the only people that can truly understand this matter are the undergraduates," he said. Matusow referred the case to a subcommittee of the Judicial Affairs Committee for investigation. The subcommittee was chaired by Will Rice College Master and Geology and Geophysics Professor Dale Sawyer, and its other members were French Studies Professor Deborah Nelson and chemical engineering graduate student David Ting. Rees said the subcommittee membership was not fair to Kini and Murphy. "I don't think they could have picked a more biased subcommittee," she said. The code requires one member of any subcommittee to be a student. Rees said the student should have been an undergraduate. Student Association President Lindsay Botsford, a Wiess junior, is the only undergraduate on the Judicial Affairs Committee, but she was unable to serve on the subcommittee due to scheduling conflicts. "With this case in specific, it was incredibly essential to have an undergraduate student who had lived in a college for at least one year," Botsford said. "I indicated those concerns to Dale Sawyer, who was the chair of the [subcommittee]. ... What he emphasized was that it was more important to have someone with Judicial Affairs experience than someone with experience of the college system." According to the code, if no student is available to serve on a subcommittee, "The chair may ask one of the student court justices to serve on the subcommittee." Matusow said he could not comment on the subcommittee's composition. Sawyer could not be reached for comment.
The hearing The subcommittee hearing on Nov. 20 lasted about four hours. Murphy and his father, Kini and his mother, and the Dunns and their parents attended the proceedings. Murphy and Kini presented witnesses including former Sid secretaries, character witnesses and other students. Rees was one of these witnesses. She said that the Dunns' parents made comments to her during her testimony. "I'm shocked that the parents were allowed to comment in the case," Rees said. "This is supposed to be Student Judicial Affairs, involving students at Rice University. I don't understand where the parents come into this." Murphy said he and Kini would not comment on the specifics of the hearing.
The sanctions Murphy and Kini were notified by e-mail Wednesday to meet with Matusow yesterday at 2:15 p.m. to receive the results of the complaint against them. Matusow informed them that they were found in violation of all three charges would both be on disciplinary suspension next semester. They will receive credit for this semester. Kini will also face disciplinary probation for the rest of his time at Rice because of previous University Court sanctions, Murphy said. Murphy declined to comment on the sanctions due to the appellate process.
Kini and Murphy to appeal Murphy and Kini plan to appeal to Gillis. "Now I just appeal to Gillis after discussing this matter with my lawyers, my parents, other involved parties," Murphy said. They also have legal representation and have been in contact with The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education about their case. Murphy said they are "completely unsure" about possible legal action, pending the outcome of their appeal. According to the FIRE Web page (http://www.thefire.org), "FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation devoted to free speech, individual liberty, religious freedom, the rights of conscience, legal equality, due process, and academic freedom on our nation's campuses." FIRE Executive Director Thor Halvorssen said that what Kini and Murphy did was not harassment. "Being offended is not the same as being harassed, and it trivializes true harassment," he said. "Calling this sexual harassment trivializes sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is a very serious issue, and it does happen. This is not sexual harassment by any stretch of the imagination." Halvorssen also said the university's sanctions against Kini and Murphy are incongruous with penalties given in a similar case in the past. "The last time that Gillis prosecuted someone for this, they only received community service," he said. "Furthermore you have a possible situation of students ... getting disparate treatment on the basis of gender." The case Halvorssen referred to was that of 1996-'97 Thresher Editors in Chief Marty Beard (Brown '98) and Vivek Rao (Baker '97) in connection with the 1997 edition of the parody publication "The Rice Trasher." The April 1, 1997 "Trasher" contained a parody of an article from the Thresher that year about Allison Fine (Hanszen '97) being named one of Glamour magazine's Top 10 college women. The "Trasher" article substituted Hustler for Glamour and included graphic sexual comments about "Alice N. Whine." The article described criteria for the "Hustler Top Tit list" as "willingness to hook up," "blow job proficiency, followership, mindless giggling [and] breast size." Rao and Beard were found guilty of sexual harassment and harassment. Rao, then a graduating senior, was ordered to serve 100 hours of community service. Beard, then a junior, was originally sentenced to suspension for one semester, 100 hours of community service and disciplinary probation for the rest of her time at Rice. However, Beard's suspension was deferred by Camacho on the condition that she distribute a university-approved letter of apology and that she serve on an ad hoc committee examining the relationship between the Thresher and the university.
The effects on Kini and Murphy Murphy said he and Kini have been "very depressed" since they were notified of the complaint against them. "Whatever Rice does to us will never have the same effect on us as the punishment we've put ourselves through in the past four weeks," Murphy said. "This is a huge strain on my academics at this point. Because normally I would be holed up in my room studying and working on all my upcoming exams and papers, but instead I'm running around getting advice from people, and when I have free time all I can do is worry. Vinay is going through the exact same thing." Murphy and Kini also worry about how their suspension, if upheld, will affect their futures. "I'm a member of [Navy ROTC]. If this punishment is allowed to stand, I stand to lose not only a scholarship but also any hope of becoming an aviator," Murphy said. "Vinay has all but given up his hopes of attending med school if this is going to be on his transcript," Murphy said.
The history of the Sid minutes Rees, who was a Sid secretary two years ago, said Sid minutes have a history of content other than reports of announcements from the Sid Council meeting. "About three years ago, we started including jokes on both sides of the minutes, but the back page ... of the minutes has always been directed at individuals, it has always contained sexually explicit language and, on many occasions, it has been derogatory toward students within the college," she told the Thresher four weeks ago. There were no guidelines given to her about what she should or should not put in the minutes. "When I became secretary, no one in the entire college ever said to me, 'Be careful with what you write because you could be held liable,' or, 'Watch out what you write because some people could be overly offended by it,'" Rees said.
The college responds Rees sent an e-mail to the Sid listserv last night informing the college of Kini and Murphy's suspension and calling a meeting for 11 p.m. "to answer your questions and discuss appeals to the university." About 70 people attended the meeting, including Jessica and Danielle Dunn, Kini and Murphy. Students at the meeting talked about various ways to express their disagreement with Kini and Murphy's suspension. They decided on two courses of action: a group of Sid freshmen are going to send a letter to Gillis and other members of the administration, and students will write individual e-mails to Gillis and encourage others to do the same. Each freshmen who wants to "sign" the letter did so by filling out the first page of an application to transfer to another university. Sid freshman Jessica Kaminsky, one of the organizers of the protest, said that 75 percent of Sid freshmen will have filled out an application by early today.
- back - |
|
|
Search the Thresher pages:
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of: The Rice Thresher, Rice University MS-524, PO Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA. The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@listserv.rice.edu |
