Council Meets With Rudenstine

Thirteen Undergraduate Council members met with President Neil L. Rudenstine yesterday for an informal question-and-answer session, during which the students gleaned the president's opinions on a broad spectrum of issues, most notably date rape.

Rudenstine said he does not believe students should be involved in judging and disciplining students in date rape cases, as has been recommended by the Date Rape Task Force.

"If you're in an investigative mode," Rudenstine said of the disciplinary process, "then you really need highlytrained, experienced people, because the questions you ask and the way in which you ask them can make all the difference to whether the testimony in the end is seen as not only credible but valid or even willing to be entertained."

In a previous interview with The Crimson,Rudenstine said it would be "awkward" to havestudents reviewing other students in anydisciplinary case, whether it involves a crime ornot.

However, the council should play a definiterole in the debate on date rape policy, thepresident said.

Rudenstine then discussed his experience asprovost at Princeton University, where the honorscommittee consisted of students. The committeecame under fire in his last years there becausesome students felt they were being questioned andtried unfairly, he said.

The problem, Rudenstine said, is that peerslack the institutional authority to drive hometheir recommendations, making any decision by astudent board suspect from a legal standpoint--andthus subject to a court appeal.

Rudenstine said he and other Princetonadministrators "were getting very, very nervous"because two cases of student expulsions did end upgoing to trial in court.

Asked how students could learn more about theCollege's administrative process, Rudenstine firstvolunteered his own ignorance.

"I don't even know the structure of the AdBoard here," he said. "I've never sat in it andI've never appeared before it. I'm waiting for myfirst chance," he jested.

But he did add that he considers it "veryimportant that there be ample opportunity for dueprocess."

Rudenstine said he approved of the council'sexamining the definition of date rape, counteringProfessor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz's charge thatthe student representatives are "amateurish" intheir efforts to debate such a complicated legalissue.

"I think we're all amateurish," Rudenstinesaid. "If we only rely on experts to voice views,we will not have any people speaking out, ever, onanything."

Acknowledging that the issue of date rape iscomplex and requires "highly experienced" peoplein the policy process, the president said, "Itwould seem to be strange not to have theUndergraduate Council debating it and expressingits views."

Council members asked Rudenstine about severalother issues, including the financial status ofthe University and the possibility of coed roominggroups.

The president's response to the idea of co-edrooming groups was lukewarm, to say the least.Calling the issue "a tough one," he said that inan age of increasing internationalization,families from different cultures might find it "avery complicated issue to deal with.

In a previous interview with The Crimson,Rudenstine said it would be "awkward" to havestudents reviewing other students in anydisciplinary case, whether it involves a crime ornot.

However, the council should play a definiterole in the debate on date rape policy, thepresident said.

Rudenstine then discussed his experience asprovost at Princeton University, where the honorscommittee consisted of students. The committeecame under fire in his last years there becausesome students felt they were being questioned andtried unfairly, he said.

The problem, Rudenstine said, is that peerslack the institutional authority to drive hometheir recommendations, making any decision by astudent board suspect from a legal standpoint--andthus subject to a court appeal.

Rudenstine said he and other Princetonadministrators "were getting very, very nervous"because two cases of student expulsions did end upgoing to trial in court.

Asked how students could learn more about theCollege's administrative process, Rudenstine firstvolunteered his own ignorance.

"I don't even know the structure of the AdBoard here," he said. "I've never sat in it andI've never appeared before it. I'm waiting for myfirst chance," he jested.

But he did add that he considers it "veryimportant that there be ample opportunity for dueprocess."

Rudenstine said he approved of the council'sexamining the definition of date rape, counteringProfessor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz's charge thatthe student representatives are "amateurish" intheir efforts to debate such a complicated legalissue.

"I think we're all amateurish," Rudenstinesaid. "If we only rely on experts to voice views,we will not have any people speaking out, ever, onanything."

Acknowledging that the issue of date rape iscomplex and requires "highly experienced" peoplein the policy process, the president said, "Itwould seem to be strange not to have theUndergraduate Council debating it and expressingits views."

Council members asked Rudenstine about severalother issues, including the financial status ofthe University and the possibility of coed roominggroups.

The president's response to the idea of co-edrooming groups was lukewarm, to say the least.Calling the issue "a tough one," he said that inan age of increasing internationalization,families from different cultures might find it "avery complicated issue to deal with.