A Syracuse University law student was fired from his position on the school’s judicial board within hours of his column in The Daily Orange, SU’s student newspaper, that criticized administrators in the school’s Office of Judicial Affairs for improperly interfering in the judicial process.
Henry Chung was dismissed from the University Judicial Board ? a panel of students that reviews cases of alleged student misconduct after he published a column in the Oct. 25 issue of The Daily Orange that accused university officials of pressuring the student panel to hand down a harsher punishment to a student that had appeared before the board, which Chung claimed violated school policy. The column did not identify the student.
“Before we reached a verdict, everything was fair,” Chung said, “It was the post hearing process that was not fair.” Judicial Affairs has overstepped its bounds by ordering a retrial, Chung said.
“They can always find new panels until they are satisfied with the outcome,” Chung said.
Chung has filed a formal letter of grievance with the university regarding his dismissal and has established a task force to seek reform in the university judicial process.