LEO Union Council Statement on Recent OSCR Charges Against Student Protesters

The Lecturer Employee Organization explicitly condemns the University’s decision to charge more undergraduate and graduate student protestors with disciplinary infractions through the Office of Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR). The criminal charges against these student protestors have already been dropped by law enforcement. The University’s attempt to still use OSCR to punish these students illustrates a dwindling concern for freedom of speech and due process. These charges are especially concerning as the new OSCR procedures allow the University to act as both a complainant and arbiter against its own students, a conflict that has already led to the University overturning a student jury’s acquittal of student protestors. 

As LEO has already stated, the University’s manipulation of the OSCR procedures and the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities presents “a chilling repression of free speech, the freedom of assembly, and academic freedom.” Therefore, LEO calls on the University to drop these OSCR charges and to bring due process and respect for freedom of speech to the campus conflict resolution process.