Pubdate: Sat, 6 Jan 2007
Source: Daily Freeman (Kingston, NY)
Copyright: 2007 Daily Freeman
Contact:  http://www.dailyfreeman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3269
Author: Kathryn Heidecker, Freeman staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Justin+Holmes
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)

JUDGE ORDERS SUNY NEW PALTZ TO REINSTATE SUSPENDED STUDENTS

A FEDERAL judge has ordered SUNY New Paltz to allow the student 
government's president and vice president to return to school 
immediately because they were denied legal counsel at a disciplinary 
hearing that resulted in their suspensions.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn ruled in Albany on Wednesday that 
Justin Holmes and R.J. Parrington III must be reinstated as students.

Holmes, the Student Association president, and Parrington, the vice 
president, were banned from the campus for one year beginning last 
spring after an incident involving Corrina Caracci, the college's 
director of residence life.

The incident occurred on April 27, when Holmes and Parrington had 
just won their respective elections.  Caracci claimed an encounter in 
a hallway with the two students amounted to harassment, and she filed 
a police complaint against them.

Holmes and Parrington were suspended after a disciplinary hearing, 
but they challenged the decision in court on the grounds that they 
were not allowed to have lawyers.

Kahn agreed, writing in his ruling: "The court finds (the) plaintiffs 
will likely succeed in showing that the denial of their request (for 
legal counsel) at the disciplinary hearing violated due process."

But the ruling does not resolve the case or all the issues raised by 
the plaintiffs, Kahn wrote.

The students also are calling for the reform of the campus 
regulations concerning marijuana and say the charges against them 
were an attempt to squelch the progressive/libertarian student movement.

"The judge made a careful decision, and we're happy he ruled in our 
favor," Holmes said in a posting on the Web site wikipaltz.com. "We 
are looking forward to the opportunity to present our entire case, 
which, thanks in part to our supporters amongst the students and 
faculty who have unearthed even more evidence, has gotten even 
stronger since we filed it."

In a telephone interview on Friday, Holmes said he plans to attend 
classes when the college's spring semester begins on Jan. 22. He also 
plans to hold a news conference on campus on Thursday.

Holmes said substantive issues still to be resolved include the 
"retaliatory nature" of campus administration and "the underhanded 
participation in student elections." He claims campus officials 
attempted to influence the result of the student election he won.

Eric Gullickson, the college's director of media relations, said SUNY 
New Paltz officials are "disappointed that the court took issue with 
the common practice across SUNY concerning the presence of attorneys 
at student judicial hearings, (but) we of course respect and will 
abide by the judge's ruling."

Gullickson said the ruling means students will be entitled to legal 
representation even at disciplinary hearings for such minor 
infractions as littering and violating open container rules.

"SUNY New Paltz has limited taxpayer resources better spent on 
educating the young people of New York than being diverted to 
employing lawyers to adjudicate minor behavioral infractions," he said. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake