Conduct hearing for students involved in Theta Tau videos has not yet finished as of Wednesday afternoon
Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer
Complaints against 16 students will be adjudicated at the hearing, according to charging documents.
UPDATED: July 16, 2018 at 10:07 p.m.
The conduct hearing for students involved in the Theta Tau videos that began Wednesday morning has not concluded as of Wednesday afternoon, a Syracuse University professor involved in the hearing said.
Gregory Germain, a professor in the College of Law who is advising three students charged with conduct violations in connection to the Theta Tau videos, said in an email on Wednesday afternoon he did not know when the hearing might finish.
“We have no input in the process,” Germain said. “The University and the hearing panel meet without us and dictate everything. We can make objections, but they do what they want.”
According to charging documents obtained by The Daily Orange, complaints against 16 students identified in the university’s investigative report would be adjudicated by a three-member board at the hearing. Students connected to the Theta Tau videos could face suspension or expulsion, Syverud has said. Complaints were filed in April against 18 students present at the Theta Tau-sponsored event in the videos.
Sarah Scalese, SU’s associate vice president for university communications, said in a statement that the university does not comment on the procedures or status of pending conduct matters. But she said SU stands by its actions.
“The student conduct process continues and the previously announced timeline remains the same,” Scalese said on Wednesday afternoon.
The hearing is not open to the public.
Dolan Evanovich, SU’s senior vice president for enrollment and the student experience, said in April that students involved in the Theta Tau videos would face an “expedited and fair” process. Some people, including Germain, have expressed concern about speed of the investigation and subsequent hearing.
Wednesday’s conduct hearing comes three weeks after SU initially suspended the Theta Tau fraternity for its involvement in the creation of videos Chancellor Kent Syverud called “racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities.” In a statement on its website, Theta Tau called the videos a “satirical sketch.”
“I solemnly swear to always have hatred in my heart for n*ggers, sp*cs and most importantly the f*ckin’ k*kes,” the person on his knees repeats in a recording of one of the videos posted by The Daily Orange in April.
In another recording, a person sits down in a rolling chair and a different person yells, “He’s drooling out of his mouth because he’s retarded in a wheelchair.”
The fraternity was permanently expelled from SU in April.
Students are being accused of multiple policy violations, per the documents. Those alleged violations include:
- Physical harm or threats of physical harm
- Harassment beyond protected free speech
- Conduct threatening the mental health, physical health or safety of students, including hazing, drug or alcohol abuse and bullying, among other things
- Sexual abuse or harassment
- Illegal use, possession, purchase, distribution manufacture or sale of alcohol, drugs or controlled substances, among other things
The charging document does not specify which actions in the video corresponded to each policy violation.
MORE COVERAGE:
- SU will not publicly release names of students in Theta Tau investigation
- Complaints filed against 18 people present at Theta Tau event
- Second Theta Tau video shows mimed sexual assault of person with disabilities
Published on May 9, 2018 at 7:02 pm
Contact Jordan: jmulle01@syr.edu | @jordanmuller18
