Read the review of the Phi Delta Theta case by Leah Ward Sears, former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, here. (Warning: the report contains language releated to the case that some people may find offensive.)
Georgia Tech lifted sanctions Wednesday on a fraternity that had become a test case for complaints that the university unfairly treated students accused of misconduct, including sexual assaults.
The Phi Delta Theta fraternity had been on a limited suspension after a black student accused fraternity members of yelling racial slurs at her from windows of the fraternity house in August.
Georgia Tech has come under fire by critics, including some state lawmakers, about its handling of the fraternity case and the punishments it hands down to students accused of wrongdoing. A review by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that Georgia Tech had been one of the most aggressive schools in handing down punishments in these cases. Two students sued the university, alleging they had been wrongfully forced out after being accused of sexual assault, and one was reinstated by the state's Board of Regents.
In a review of the fraternity case process, findings and sanctions, former chief judge of the Georgia Supreme Court Leah Ward Sears found the fraternity's sanctions were out of line with the university's policies. Tech had requested Sears' review.
Georgia Tech’s policies don’t allow for whole organizations to be punished unless the group’s leaders are found to be complicit in the actions. A student judicial panel did not find Phi Delta’s leaders to be complicit in the August incident.
Although the sanctions were lifted, Sears’ review found that a student judicial panel had enough evidence to find that the racial incident did occur, and that the fraternity received adequate due process in the investigation and appeals process.
“It is important to recognize that race-based discriminatory acts or practices have no place at Georgia Tech where students should be able to learn and engage in activities without the disquietude of prejudice and intolerance,” Sears said in a letter to Georgia Tech president Bud Peterson. “It is also crucial to call attention to the importance of fraternities policing the behavior of its members.”
Fraternity representatives lauded the decision to lift the suspension, but maintained that the organization was innocent and that the group was treated unfairly.
“We respectively submit that this decision was a political decision made in such a way to allow the school not to have to acknowledged that this in fact did not happen,” said Jonathan Hawkins, Phi Delta’s attorney.
He said Sears’ finding that a student panel had enough evidence to find that the August incident occurred was based on a flawed process that ignored evidence and eyewitness testimony in the case.
Sears’ review of the case did not include interviewing witnesses to the alleged event. She only reviewed hearings that took place before a student judicial panel, the panel’s findings and the fraternity’s appeal.
Georgia Tech officials declined to comment beyond a statement that officials agreed with Sears’ findings and that the fraternity suspension was immediately lifted.
"I would like to think that some of the very limited justice the fraternity is now receiving is shining the light on what I still consider a lack of due process," state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, said of Wednesday's developments. "I'm thrilled that the fraternity has been exonerated, still infuriated that those young men have been punished for over half the year, and the response from the university is, 'Oops, sorry.' "
Ehrhart, who leads the Georgia House panel in charge of allocating funding for the state's public colleges and universities, has criticized Georgia Tech's due process procedures and threatened that its funding would be cut if it did not treat all students fairly.
Georgia Tech has already moved to revamp some of its due-process policies, and has replaced a key administrator, Peter Paquette, who had led the school’s Office of Student Integrity. Critics of Georgia Tech’s policies had claimed that Paquette failed to interview witnesses who would back up accounts by those accused, dismissed texts and other evidence of innocence as irrelevant and would not allow one student’s mother into her 19-year-old son’s sexual-misconduct hearing.
Georgia Tech declined to comment on Paquette's position, saying it does not comment on personnel issues. The office's website now lists a new interim director.
The University System of Georgia is also expected to present systemwide due process policies soon for all 29 institutions in the system, including Georgia Tech.
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