Yesterday the Judicial Board (J-Board) released its 2009-2010 Annual Report detailing the 11 cases it heard in the last academic year.
The report was released in an e-mail to students, faculty and staff on yesterday afternoon; username authentication is required to access the report.
Seven of the J-Board cases from the last academic year dealt with Academic Honor Code violations, for which three students and two faculty members sat on the Board.
Four J-Board cases dealt with Social Code violations, and a Board consisting of five student members heard those cases.
The Annual Report details the circumstances of J-Board cases, the responsibility that the J-Board determined, and the consequences of the infractions.
The report notably includes the case of a student who allegedly struck a nurse while being treated for alcohol poisoning at Parkview Adventist Medical Center.
The Judicial Board ruled the student responsible for the charges of "conduct which is unbecoming of a Bowdoin student," "violation of federal, state, or local statues: assaulting a medical provider," and "failure to comply with Bowdoin College Alcohol Policy: underage consumption and consumption of hard alcohol."
Following Foster's approval of the Judicial Board's recommendations, the student was suspended for the remainder of the semester in which the incident occurred, as well as for the following semester.
The Board's recommendation stipulated that the student's return to campus is dependent on the completion of letters of apology and alcohol counseling during his suspension.
Two cases of alleged sexual assault or misconduct were referred to the Student Sexual Assault and Misconduct Board; both cases involved the consumption of alcohol.
The cases were referred to the Designee, who conducts a preliminary investigation of the events to determine whether the evidence available justifies a hearing.
In one case, the Sexual Assault and Misconduct Board did not find the respondent responsible for sexual assault or misconduct.
In the second case, the Designee found that there was insufficient evidence to merit a hearing.
The Designee recommended a Structured Meeting to resolve the case.
Judicial Board Chair Edward Gottfried '11 reported that the deans use the report from the previous year's chair to compile the Annual Report, which summarizes the outcomes of cases brought to the Board.
"It can be difficult to glean from the report what goes into each individual case," said Gottfried. "It would be impossible to communicate enough about every case to make everyone happy."
While Foster and Lee sit in on all Judicial Board hearings, Gottfried clarified that only the members of the Board determine the outcome of hearings.
"The discussion of responsibility occurs exclusively between members of the board," said Gottfried.
"After determining responsibility we determine the weight of the violation, and using precedent, we come to a set of recommendations," he added.
Foster reviews the recommendations of the Judicial Board before approving them; the responsibility for a given infraction is not changed following the Board's ruling.
The Judicial Board releases a synopsis of cases once a year; which, according to Foster and Gottfried, puts Bowdoin at a moderate level of transparency compared to its peer schools.
According to Gottfried, some schools release the outcome of hearings directly following rulings, while others do not release their recommendations at all.
"We sit right at the middle," said Gottfried. The Judicial Board releases information annually in order to inform the student body "without [making]...a student who comes before the Board feeling as though they have been publicly exposed."