What do these students think about that whole ‘due process’ thing?

Kaitlin Bain reports for the Daily Toreador:

Tech students respond to judicial process

As a part of the Student Code of Conduct, the student judicial process for Texas Tech is outlined.
This process includes the intake, or first report, the investigation, a hearing and, if applicable, an appeal, according to the Student Code of Conduct.

Amy Murphy, Tech dean of students, said the process is a learning opportunity for students, and administration tries to ensure it will be conducted in the least adversarial way possible.

“That’s why we use this investigation model where the investigator is neutral at the point of information gathering as far as they’re gathering information from both students about what occurred,” she said. “We already have the information. They (the students involved) don’t have to participate in the hearing.”

Also a part of this model, she said, is the decision that students are not able to cross-examine witnesses, nor are the students’ advisers, during the hearing.

If cross-examination were to be allowed, she said, it would create a chilling effect for future possible reports.

“We want responding and reporting parties to talk to that investigator about the questions that they have for witnesses,” Murphy said, “the information that they want to see in that investigation report.”

While the procedure is in place to better educate students, students are split in their opinion of the procedure.

Andy Johnson, a sophomore exercise and sport sciences major from Albuquerque, New Mexico, said he thinks the system has flaws that should be updated.