A new bill under consideration in the state Senate would ask administrators of the University of California and California State University systems and leaders at the state’s community colleges to expel students found guilty of rioting.
SB 337 proposes to immediately suspend students attending the state’s public colleges for at least one year if they are found guilty of, among other things, being in attendance at a riot, initiating a mass disturbance or taking part in an “assembly for the purpose of disturbing the public peace.”
“We’ve had a number of cases, especially in San Luis Obispo, of unacceptable behavior stemming from Mardi Gras parties … [and] in cases at [UC Davis] and in Santa Barbara and Chico where parties have gone from a number of students having a good time to excessive behavior and needing to call in police officers to restore peace,” said Tom Kise, a spokesman for state Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-San Luis Obispo), the bill’s sponsor.
The plan has received support from UCSD Police Department Chief Orville King because it would give more tools and options to law enforcement personnel.
“It has such a long-reaching effect that would be useful for schools that do have problems and would give us the means if there were any problems on this campus,” King said. However, King said rioting has not been a problem at UCSD.
“There has never been a situation like that at this campus, and I’ve been here just short of three years,” King said. “We just haven’t had those types of problems on this campus.”
In addition to the minimum one-year expulsion, students would lose their Cal Grant eligibility for two years under the proposed plan. The financial aid provisions have faced criticism from UC administrators.
“The bill sets unfair standards for lower-income students,” UC Office of the President spokeswoman Ravi Poorsina stated in an e-mail. “It is unclear why needy students would be penalized for engaging in student protests while wealthier students are not. By revoking a student’s eligibility for a Cal Grant award as a penalty for certain offenses, the state would be imposing a penalty on poor and middle-income students that would not apply to wealthy students.”
Unlike community colleges and CSU campuses, the UC system would not be obligated to act if the bill is passed by the state Legislature and signed by the governor. Under the state’s constitution, the UC Board of Regents is responsible for setting the university’s policies and can only be requested by lawmakers to adopt certain rules.
“The University of California already has mechanisms in place for addressing issues of student conduct, including those offenses that SB 337 is attempting to address,” Poorsina stated. “The ‘University of California Policy on Student Conduct and Discipline,’ which has been successfully implemented at the UC campuses, outlines grounds upon which a student may be disciplined, or even dismissed, for certain violations.”
The proposal has also been opposed by the UC Student Association.
“It was discussed at the last meeting and we definitely oppose the passage of the bill, especially because it seems to desire actions against free speech activities,” UCSA President Jennifer Lilla said. “At one point, it had a public safety aspect and then all this other stuff got tacked on. … To the best of our knowledge, the incidents have happened only at San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly schools. The original intent of this bill has been lost. “
The bill is currently being considered by the Senate Education Committee.
