OUR OPINION: Too much prosecutorial zeal at UND
October 29, 2011 at 7:04 pm in Grand Forks Herald
Twice in the past year, UND got hit by bad publicity and suffered a black eye. The first happened with the legislative flare-up about the Fighting Sioux nickname. For today’s purposes, it’s enough to say that the ongoing saga frustrates nickname friends and foes alike. Continue Reading
Good point….But on the other hand there’s been cases (Not local that I can think of right now) where someone has been accused of sexual misconduct and practically tired in the news on the front page for days or weeks….Then months down the road if that person is found innocent…It often only makes a paragraph or two hidden inside the paper some place.
Actually this doesn’t only happen in cases where someone is accused of sexual misconduct, but basically anything that creates a bit of a sensational story. A person can be dragged through the mud in the press when he or she is accused (And people often interpret the accusation as guilty once in the news), but then is given barely a notice once they are cleared. So even if they do receive justice they often have this huge monkey on their back that they have to work around. I think every news outlet should have a policy that they will give front page notice to anyone who has been cleared on a charge that made front page news in the first place. I don’t know if the Herald does, but it should…
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Dr. Robert Kelley began serving as UND’s 11th president July 1, 2008.
Great job!……?
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To be fair…
probably no one from the NCAA was interested enough to tell Kelley what to do.
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Policies that include tribunals, amateurs collecting evidence and imposing penalties seems like such an antiquated way of doing business. Is this a common practice in universities? There must be some concern about potential liability.
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Although it may seem that a university committee may have a lot of power over students “charged” with doing bad things, it must be remembered that the standards for criminal conviction do not apply. UND’s action was not a criminal finding, did not require the “beyond a reasonable doubt” burden of proof of criminal prosecutions since there is no criminal sanction that the University can impose. The state prosecutors, on the other hand, have a duty not to seek a criminal conviction if they do not think that standard can be met. In short, police and state’s attorneys may believe someone did the act, but if they cannot show commission of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt, they shouldn’t prosecute, whereas the University committee, if they think it probable that the act was committed, can sanction the student.
The real problems with the University’s process is the short, 5-day, period for reconsideration and the failure to reopen when “new evidence” is discovered–regardless of the time period.
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Perhaps the University needs to also consider someone innocent until proven otherwise?
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Jessica Murray born in 1991 of Covina California has an active arrest warrant for False Information to Law Enforcement.Grand Forks County Case No. 18-10-K-00972.
See http://publicsearch.ndcourts.gov
Since her lies cost a young man much, let’s hope this legal loose end causes her some problems although it will never likely cause her the anguish she caused the victim of her lies.
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Has the tribunal kicked the accuser out of school?
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