The NIU associate legal counsel sees no reason for the University Council to gain control of NIU’s Student Judicial Code.

Associate Legal Council Norden Gilbert said he believes there is more protection for students by keeping the jurisdiction of the codes the way they are.

“The system we have now works well, so I question any attempts to tamper with that,” Gilbert said.

“I haven’t seen any justification for changing them,” he said, adding the advisory board is made up of people with interest, experience and expertise in the law.

Although the proposal to give the council authority over the code was disapproved by student members of the council, it was sent to one of the council’s committees last Wednesday anyway.

The change would allow the council to have control over the code rather than the University Judicial Advisory board.

The judicial board has a greater student majority than University Council. Students helped write the original code.

Gilbert said the members of the council are competent people, but most of them don’t have expertise in the legal aspects of student life.

“The only time they (council members) get involved at all is when there is academic misconduct. And that’s such a small percentage of what the (judicial) office does,” Gilbert said.

The current laws do not require the amount of student input NIU favors, Gilbert said.

The judicial office allows students to make changes in the code which would affect other students. A hearing by a university official would satisfy the law, he said.

“The code we have is a very progressive code. It puts a lot of faith in the wisdom of students who are judging their peers,” Gilbert said. “That affords much more protection to a student than the law requires.”

Gilbert does not think the council would make significant changes in the code if they had jurisdiction over it, though he said it is a possibility.