Student Discipline Committee

DISC08-M3

Minutes of the meeting of the Student Discipline Committee held on 4 November 2008.

Members: M D Morley (Chair), J Bernstein (ab), J Blackwell, J B C Blood (ab), H P Drake (ab), F T Edum-Fotwe (ab), D Goss, D Green (ab), R M King, S A Mason, R H Mayo (ab), D McNeice, C Morris (ab), J Naylor (ab), G Payne (ab), M Shuker (ab), J A M Strong, J B Thomas, W Thomas (ab), A Watson.

By invitation: J Mackenzie (in place of P P Conway), R J Kennedy, N Thomas, J R Thomas.

In attendance: C Dunbobbin.

Apologies for absence: J Bernstein, JBC Blood, H P Drake, R H Mayo, C Morris, J Naylor, G Payne, W Thomas, P P Conway, S W Spinks.

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1. Minutes
DISC08-M2

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2008 were confirmed.

2. Membership and Terms of Reference

DISC08-P7

The Committee noted its current membership and terms of reference. It was further noted that:

i) There was a vacancy on the Committee for a lay member of Court, and that action should be taken to fill it. ACTION: Secretary

ii) The Guide to Ordinance XVII that had been circulated needed to be updated to refer to Chief Operating Officer, rather than Registrar. ACTION: Secretary

3. Matters Arising from the Minutes

3.1 Policy on the Use of Illicit Drugs

DISC08-M2, Min. 2 refers

There had been no new incidents involving illicit drug taking, so the policy on the use of illicit drugs agreed at the meeting of the Committee on 6 March 2008 (that all incidents involving drug-taking should be referred to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for further investigation) had not been tested further. The Deputy Senior Warden noted that wardens were concerned that the new procedure would result in delays in dealing with such cases. However, the COO had undertaken to deal with these incidents in an expeditious manner, and it was agreed to continue to monitor developments.

It was noted that the Chair, and former Secretary to the Committee had met with the Senior Warden, and the former Director of Student Guidance and Welfare in April 2008, and had agreed in more detail the circumstances in which incidents involving illicit drug use would be referred to the COO under the new policy. A note confirming what had been agreed at this meeting would be circulated to the Committee. ACTION: Secretary

3.2 Car Parking 2008-09

DISC08-M2, Min. 3 refers

The Committee noted that revisions to Ordinance XVIII (Traffic and Parking in the University) were agreed by Council on 22 July 2008.

3.3 Multiple Minor Offences

DISC08-M2, Min 5 refers

The Committee noted that the COO had agreed to delegate to the Secretary to the Student Discipline Committee the authority to convene a Major Hearing whenever a serial offender committed a fourth offence (having received a warning after the third offence).

4. Preparation and Prosecution of Student Disciplinary Cases

Since the last meeting of the Committee, Tom Cartwright had resigned as Case Officer. Members recorded their thanks and gratitude to Mr Cartwright for his work in contributing to the effective operation of the University’s student disciplinary procedures.

It was agreed that the Committee should be advised as soon as arrangements to carry out the work previously undertaken by Mr Cartwright had been confirmed (discussions involving the COO, the Director of Facilities Management, the Director of Student Services, and the Academic Registrar were understood to be at an advanced stage). ACTION: Secretary.

It was considered particularly important that the new arrangements would:

(i) Result in all major disciplinary cases being prepared and prosecuted in a timely fashion. (It was noted in this context that the Office of the Independent Adjudicator had, in relation to a previous case, been critical of the timeliness of the University’s prosecution procedures).

(ii) Catch all elements of Mr Cartwright’s work, including those which had evolved and which were not explicitly referred to in the Case Officer job description. It was noted, for example, that Mr Cartwright had assisted in organising and supervising community service penalties.

The Security Manager expressed confidence that should a major offence arise in the interim period, sufficient resources existed within the Security Section to take the case forward.

The Committee noted that the Student Advice Centre had transferred from the Students’ Union to the University’s Department of Student Guidance and Welfare. However, LSU was recruiting a new member of staff to co-ordinate representation in disciplinary and other cases in which students would be in dispute with the University. In the interim, Student Advice Centre staff would continue to represent students in such circumstances. The Director of Student Services recorded his thanks to the staff concerned for agreeing to continue with this role.

5. Minor Offences

DISC08-P8

The Committee noted details of minor offences reported up to 27 October 2008, and was encouraged that the number of incidents of hall indiscipline appeared to be relatively low.

There was some discussion of dangerous cycling on campus, particularly cycling without lights, and concern was expressed that this behaviour would result in a large number of disciplinary fines being imposed. It was noted that the Security Section conducted an annual campaign to promote the use of cycle lights, but that there were finite resources that could be allocated to this problem. The narrowness of many of the roads on campus was felt to contribute to the problem of dangerous cycling, and members suggested that the enhancement of cycle-path provision would help to alleviate matters. It was agreed to raise this issue with the Transport Sustainability Group. ACTION: Secretary

6. Dates of Meetings in 2008-09

10 February 2009, 2pm.

9 June 2009, 10am.

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Author – C Dunbobbin