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Show Editorials Senate Bill 112 endangers student rights . The University administration expects to have students and faculty place a lot of ! blind faith in it-unfortunately this is ; sometimes more faith than the administration has shown it deserves. Administrators are also becoming proficient, if experience is related to proficiency, at apologizing for by-passing students and faculty in decisions which directly affect their lives at the University. ' A case in point is the administration's support of Senate Bill 112 which: - makes it a crime for failing to leave ; campuses and university facilities under certain circumstances, - makes it a crime to maliciously injure or destroy property on such campuses or facilities, - provides for police assistance when required by said institutions. The bill's purpose, if one believes its statement of purpose, is "to supplement and r;-f, , hn rAiar woctoH in thp nnxprninn Bill 112, police could not come on campus without the University's request, and would then be under University supervision, she explained. The fact, as Dean Frobes has said many times, is that county and state police do come on campus without University permission-mainly for apprehension of drug users. The bill does not prevent police otticers from coming on campus, it states only that if University police lack sufficient manpower to deal effectively with any condition of unrest existing or developing on campus, the University may call for assistance from the county sheriff, the city police, or the Utah Highway Patrol . . . "All personnel while rendering such assistance shall serve under the direction of the chief administrative officer of the institution or the officer or employe designated by him to maintain order on the campus or related fariltv board of each state institution of higher education to regulate, conduct and enforce 1 law and order on property owned or ' controlled by it." With wild-eyed radicals peering behind every bush on campus, ready to revolt at the ! slightest spark, the University administration has thus moved to protect its students by having Senate Bill 112 introduced to deal with what it sees as the increasing problem of "enforcement of law and order at institutions of higher education." The bill is commonly known as the Maxwell-Frobes bill after University Executive Vice President Neal A. Maxwell and University Dean of Students Virginia P. Frobes. The bill is remarkable in several ways. First is the manner in which it was introduced and formulated. Almost no one at the University knew about it, certainly not student leaders. It was formed arbitrarily, vithoutthe dialogue that should accompany bills endorsed by the University. It was not the result of the work of a student-faculty committee (remember, we still have a committee to see if a camDus The Chronicle fails to see how this bill will provide University autonomy except in riots. This is a far cry from University autonomy to regulate its own affairs which Dean Frobes called the reason for the bill. Third, the Chronicle believes it is not realistic to expect riots on the University campus. While there is sometimes value in taking precautions for all possibilities, however remote. But the administration should pause and look at its actions. It is just such brbitrary actions by university administrators as the introduction of Senate Bill 112 which have some students across the country up in arms. The virtues of the democratic form of government in the United States have been extolled so much that students have come to believe firmly in democracy, which they call "participatory democracy." Arbitrary actions which violate basic principles of democracy are often the source of a great dissatisfaction, reaction-including "riots"- who use authority in an undemocratic manner. Fourth, the bill is remarkable fc. ,cs poor, even unconstitutional phrases such as "reasonably annears." and "likelv to security committee is necessary), and no feedback from student government officers was solicited. 1 Second, the reasons given by Dean Frobes to justify the bill are difficult to swallow. The administration, Dean Frobes told a sympathetic Executive Council of the Associated Students of the University of ' Utah (ASUU) Wednesday, is concerned with the University's autonomy and wants its own administration of law and order. "Our motive was to clarify the University's right to administer law and order. Under Senate interfere." These ill-defined terms, are in direct opposition to the statement on Academic Freedom for Students adopted by the University Board of Regents. Fifth, the bill provides no recourse to the University judicial system for the accused. Is the administration really interested in University autonomy and still able to make such an oversight? The Chronicle urges the defeat of Senate Bill 112 and cautions University administrators to be more careful and sincere with students and faculty. |