A University Council recommendation might produce a less trained judicial hearing board if passed.

In an effort to get additional members on the University Judicial Hearing Board, University Judicial Director Larry Bolles asked a University Council committee for seven extra faculty members, although he said the board actually only needed four.

But the committee, headed by Eleanor Godfrey, decided to increase the number of faculty on the hearing board from 18 to 50, have the members chosen by lot, change the term of their service and change the name of the body.

Bolles said when he asked Godfrey why her committee changed the number and selection process of the members, Godfrey replied there have been two other committees on this campus which worked quite well this way.

However, Bolles said he only found one such committee, the Special Hearing Board. Bolles said members of this board were not required to be trained.

Current faculty members of the judicial hearing board, however, are well-trained and the board must be represented by each of the colleges, Bolles said.

“I told her I preferred our system to their system … (because) the president of each college has direct input into the judicial system,” he said.

“If there’s a problem with the College of Business, I meet with the faculty from the College of Business and ask them what their concern is,” Bolles said.

If the board members are picked by lot, there might be a problem of having “over-representation” from some of the colleges, he said. Some faculty members also may not want to join the board if selected.

However, in a memo from Godfrey to Bolles, Godfrey said her committee “was persuaded that representation by college was not necessary, nor particularly appropriate.”

“Class II offenses and academic misconduct are not college but university-wide concerns,” the memo continued.

Godfrey’s committee also wants to change the term of the hearing board members from three-year staggered terms to two-year staggered terms.

Bolles said he did not like this idea because faculty members spend the first term training and use the other two terms to implement their training.

The committee wanted to change the name “Judicial Hearing Board” to “Judicial Hearing Panel.” Currently, the judicial office is made up of the hearing board, the advisory board and the appeals board.

Changing the name “board” to “panel” would only be confusing, Bolles said.

The board plans to meet again to discuss what they are going to tell the committee.