Last August, an African-American woman lodged a complaint against Phi Delta Theta, alleging that members of the fraternity shouted racial slurs at her from the windows of their campus house.
The fraternity denied that any such thing happened. It produced security video of the young woman walking by, unflinching. Windows from which the slurs were alleged to have been hurled had been sealed for years.
Even so, two months later, a Tech administrator in charge of student discipline placed the fraternity and its 100 or so members on “suspension in abeyance,” restricting its members to academic activities – no intramural sports, no socials — and requiring members to undergo sensitivity training as a condition for lifting the sanction.
No appeal was allowed, to either the Tech president or the state Board of Regents.
“Double-secret probation,” snarled Earl Ehrhart, a state representative from west Cobb County, who entered the picture shortly afterward.
Ehrhart is the same fellow who went after Delta Air Lines’ scalp last year when CEO Richard Anderson used some unfortunate language while encouraging the Legislature to pass a tax increase to rebuild the state’s roads and bridges. At Ehrhart’s urging, Delta lost a 10-year-old sales tax break on aviation fuel, worth more than $20 million a year.
Ehrhart is also chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees university spending. The Cobb County lawmaker has previously expressed his doubts about the way Georgia’s public universities handle accusations of sexual assault – whether they might be better handled by law enforcement and qualified prosecutors. . . .
In December, a special committee set up to examine student disciplinary policies issued its report to Peterson, the Tech president. Among its findings: While facts were undisputed in “95 percent” of all disciplinary investigations, in “one case,” punishment was meted out solely on the force a statement by the person who lodged the complaint. No other evidence was considered.
That case, Ehrhart said, targeted the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
On Monday, Ehrhart will hold a two-hour hearing in the Capitol. He will announce that the Board of Regents are working on a system-wide policy to ensure due process for university students. In other words, tuition and other amenities, once paid for, are a property right that shouldn’t be ripped away lightly.
Likewise, Tech has been ordered to cease its practice of denying appeals in “suspension by abeyance” cases. A spokeswoman for the Board of Regents confirmed both developments.
Ehrhart also said the Tech administrator who had overseen student disciplinary issues had been transferred. . . .
“You want to talk about ‘safe space’? In the vernacular of campus discussion today, there’s no safe space for young men at Tech. You want to be safe? Go to class, then go run and hide in your dorm. That’s where we are at Tech right now,” said Ehrhart, who can be prone to operatic pronouncements.
Well, if by “operatic,” you mean true.
But this is the only way we’ll see a concern for student civil rights at state universities. And I expect to see a good deal more legislative pressure this year, in quite a few states.
