UC Administration Response to ACLU

From the Chronicle:

The interim suspensions are "remarkable examples of an abuse of University authority," wrote ACLU attorney Julia Harumi Mass to Birgeneau and Chris Kutz, chair of the Academic Senate.

[Mike] Smith, the campus counsel, would not comment on students' cases. But he said he agrees with several points made by the ACLU.

"I think we need to fine-tune the interim suspension part of the process, and we're doing that," he said. "We've already modified the gag orders" that bar students from talking with university-affiliated people, but he declined to say how it had changed.

Smith said he disagrees with the ACLU that attorneys should be allowed to participate in disciplinary hearings. Nor does he think that people sitting on disciplinary panels should receive training in due process, as the ACLU recommends.

"Where we need to be making changes," he said, "we'll make them."