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JUDICIAL AFFAIRS PUTS UNIVERSITY TO SHAME

When the slogan, "Fear the Roo," was created, it could not have been foreseen that it might be co-opted by embittered and disenfranchised students, faculty, staff and alumni.  However, given the recent Akron Beacon Journal series about the impact of the University of Akron's judicial system on one of its former graduate students, people have a whole new reason to "Fear the Roo."

The articles, which ran Sunday and Monday, chronicled the events surrounding the arrest, prosecution and suicide of Charles Plinton, a 25-year-old Lincoln University graduate who had come to UA to pursue his master's degree in the department of public administration.

Plinton was sanctioned by UA's Office of Student Judicial Affairs following his criminal court acquittal.  He was found "responsible" by a vote of 3-2.

Frances Robinson, Plinton's mother, believes UA is "responsible" for her son's death.  Many in the community feel the same way.

Make no doubt about it, Plinton killed himself because of what the university did to him.  The university's disgustingly shameful brand of justice set into motion a series of events that left a promising young man feeling like a failure.

Finally, the public relations department has found a story it cannot spin.

Plinton was a good guy.  He was positive, outgoing and respectful.  He cared about doing the right thing.  When student judicial affairs extinguished his academic career, he felt hopeless and lost.

The Office of Student Judicial Affairs can have this effect on a person.  After all, it tried Plinton in a tribunal for a crime for which a jury had acquitted him.  By university standards, only one-third - less than half - of the evidence needs to point to a person's guilt.

Messages posted on Ohio com in response to the story expressed dismay, anger and disappointment over the university's role in the events.  Only one message supported the university.  A good number of the comments were from citizens who asserted they would not support the university or allow their children to enroll.  That probably got Luis Proenza's attention.

In fact, he issued a statement Wednesday in which he expressed his concerns over some of the issues raised by the Plinton case.

The university told the Beacon Journal that the deal to place a convicted felon among its students to entrap them involved only three people.  The president of the university supposedly never authorized the plan and was not even apprised of it.

That sounds a bit out of character for an administrator who is so "hands-on." If that is the case, changes must be made, starting with the removal of anyone involved in this backroom plan.  Either way, it looks like Proenza's streak of good fortune and seemingly Teflon exterior could be no longer.

Proenza announced he will be conducting a thorough assessment of the judicial affairs office.  If he doesn't, he will quickly lose the trust of the university and the community.