Because the system operates in secrecy, there are frequent charges that the courts favor athletes, fraternity members, and students whose parents are influential or generous contributors. For instance, last year a University of Virginia tribunal expelled Richard Wallace Smith, the son of Federal Express founder Frederick W. Smith, after he pleaded guilty in a criminal court to charges in connection with a 1997 assault on another student. But when later university proceedings resulted in a lesser sentence, students rallied to protest what was viewed as preferential treatment of Smith. His sentence was subsequently stiffened to a two-year suspension. One of Smith's attorneys says the court initially judged her client more harshly because of his father's prominence.
Experts say the case illustrates a crucial weakness of the tribunals.
Parents would be a lot more disturbed about school crime if they knew how slipshod these proceedings can be. His group, along with student newspapers across the country, has been at the forefront of efforts to open up the courts. Their efforts may be starting to pay off. Congress repealed a federal privacy law last October that colleges claimed prohibited them from disclosing the outcomes of disciplinary proceedings. The new law doesn't require schools to release the information, but it is causing many institutions, including Michigan Tech and the University of Dayton, to re-examine their secrecy codes.