For a greater Loyola | Loyola University New Orleans Since 1923 | Sept. 20, 2024 | Issue 4 | loyolamaroon.com
By Christopher Nesbit cwnesbit@my.loyno.edu Loyola has dissolved its University Board of Appeals, a move that has ignited concern over the fairness of the disciplinary process on campus. The 15-member UBA, composed of faculty, staff, and students, was responsible for hearing appeals, recommending sanctions, and suggesting policy modifications. It operated under a strict code of ethics, requiring members to be fair, impartial, and maintain confidentiality according to the Board of Appeals member description. Director of Student Conduct, Dallas Flint, cited several reasons for the board’s disbandment. “The board was removed due to lack of use since before COVID, lack
of knowledge of board members and, as a result, a lack of training,” Flint said. Isabel Medina, a professor and former chair of the university senate, voiced concern about the decisionmaking process that led to the UBA’s dissolution. “The university had unilaterally, without notice to or consultation with the university senate or other relevant faculty bodies, disbanded or done away with the University Board of Appeals,” Medina said. Medina, who teaches due process in her law classes at Loyola’s law school, asserted that the UBA ensured fairer treatment and impartiality than a single administrator deciding both charges and guilt. She believed faculty inclusion was essential under shared governance principles and should have included faculty in this decision.
See APPEALS, p.3