Proposal to Abolish CRR To Reach Completion

The steering committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences is close to approving a plan that would abolish the Committee on Rights and Responsibilities (CRR) and create a new student-faculty disciplinary body, the dean of the College said yesterday.

The Faculty Council has resolved the major issues involved in the reform of the disciplinary system and is now finalizing the wording of its proposal and the procedures the body will follow, said Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57, who heads the subcommittee drafting the proposal.

"At the beginning, we were talking about fundamental issues," he said. "It's now more nuance of language. The level of debate has gotten to be on smaller points."

If the plan is approved by the full Faculty of Arts and Sciences, he said, a 13-member student-faculty committee will be created to handle cases "with no clear precedent." The Administrative Board, the main College disciplinary body, will retain jurisdiction over the bulk of disciplinary matters.

In its meeting Wednesday, the Faculty Council tentatively approved procedures for the new body which Jewett said included the defendant's right to an open hearing; to call witnesses; to review evidence; to have an advocate of his choice from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; and to be present during the hearing and presentation of evidence.

These procedures were among those proposed in a report by the Undergraduate Council last year.

The Faculty Council also discussed proposed methods of undergraduate and graduate student selection to the committee, Jewett said.

The Undergraduate Council recommended last month that any student interested in serving be able to submit his name to his house committee or Freshman Council, which would then conduct lotteries to narrow down the field of candidates. A final lottery would then be held to select the actual student members of the body.

But members of the Faculty Council are considering broadening the base for the lottery, Jewett said.

"They feel more comfortable with a bigger pool of people," said Undergraduate Council Chairman Richard S. Eisert '88, one of two students who served on the drafting committee.

Drafts of the proposal probably will be distributed to students by a door drop, Jewett said. His committee will not organize information sessions about the plan, but a member of the drafting group will come to house committee or Undergraduate Council meetings upon request, he said.

The proposal is expected to come before the full Faculty of Arts and Sciences in March or April.