From Andrew Exum's, "Perilous Orthodoxy," Fall '99 From Andrew Exum's, "Perilous Orthodoxy," Fall '99You have to excuse Michele Goldfarb if she seems a little agitated these days. The usually demure Office of Student Conduct director has been increasingly frustrated by the growing debate surrounding the confidentiality of cases heard by the OSC. In other words, the University is now free to make known the details of cases heard by the OSC involving violent crimes or non-forcible sexual offenses and release them to the press and greater public. In the past few weeks, students have cried for the names of offenders to be released. One editorial in this publication stated that "the mere possibility that a policy of disclosure will increase the safety of the student body is sufficient grounds for the creation of such a policy." And a columnist on this page decried the OSC as a "secretive judicial system" and alarmingly likened the OSC to medieval England's infamous Star Chamber. It's the remarks about her office that sting Goldfarb the most. "The perception is we're prosecutors," she says. "I used to be a prosecutor -- that's not what we do here." Indeed, it would be best if you got any ideas of the OSC being a kind of scaled-down criminal justice system out of your head. There are no judges, no courtrooms, no lawyers -- just students working with the office's staff members to hammer out resolutions to incidents deserving disciplinary action. The OSC, located inside the main gate of the Quadrangle, can't find a student guilty of violating local, state or federal laws. All they can do is determine whether or not a student has violated University policy and then decide -- working with the students involved -- what to do about it. The absolute worst the OSC can do, Goldfarb notes, is tell a student he or she can no longer attend the University. In fact, most cases don't even reach a disciplinary review board. Instead, students work one-on-one with the staffers at the OSC toward some sort of settlement that gets them back on track academically, which is the OSC's goal in the first place. "If we allow ourselves to be likened to a kind of miniature criminal justice system, then that undermines what we're trying to do here," Goldfarb adds. Goldfarb, who teaches mediation in the Law School, is also quick to stress that every case heard at the OSC is seen as unique. Goldfarb's co-workers don't simply plug cases into an established set of laws or legal codes. The individual context within which the incident took place, Goldfarb says, is key to finding a resolution for the case. How can the OSC establish a context for every case, you ask? Through interaction between the students involved and the OSC, all of which is protected by a strict confidentiality agreement. Goldfarb says, "By in large, the students know what they did and want to cooperate. They are able to then give the context within which the event occurred. "They can explain themselves." Would those students feel so free to speak if they weren't protected by the confidentiality agreement? Goldfarb doesn't think so. When asked if the loss of confidentiality would, in effect, lead the OSC to become exactly what its detractors label it as -- an adversarial court system within the University -- Goldfarb answered with a resounding "yes." As things stand now, the OSC can resolve the cases it hears in a manner befitting the crime, the situation and all parties involved. If the results of the OSC's cases were made known to the public, Goldfarb frets that the OSC would spend as much time justifying their decisions to the community as they do reaching them. "I worry that we'll resolve the cases on how it's gonna look and not by what's right. "I like to do what's right and not worry about how's it's gonna play [in the next day's papers]." Still, Goldfarb admits that it's largely up to the members of the University community to decide whether they want OSC proceedings released to the general public. "If the average student says they would feel better if I can't give any assurances of confidentiality, well... that's a decision students need to think long and hard about." Such a decision by the campus community would be a shame. "There are so few places where you can feel safe to be honest. I don't think it does our society any good to lose those places."
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