Spring Break
Darwish's suspension will be reevaluted by the University Board of Appeals
by Jillian Wagner
News Editor
News | 4/15/08
Posted online at 4:50 AM EST on 4/15/08
/ Last updated at 6:11 PM EST on 4/15/08
The University Board of Appeals will hold a hearing Wednesday to re-evaluate the sanction of suspension delivered to Mamoon Darwish (TYP) by the University Board of Student Conduct Feb. 29.
At the Feb. 29 hearing, Darwish's suspension was originally deemed to be in effect until May 2009. Darwish has been banned from campus since his arrest.
After he was involved in a fistfight on South Street the night of Feb. 16, Darwish was arrested by University Police for an earlier incident about which neither Darwish or Cohen would disclose any information. These charges were dropped.
"The point of this new hearing is basically for [Darwish] to have a sanction hearing without the Board taking the alleged incident into consideration," said Laura Cohen '09, director of the Student Union's Office of Student Conduct Advisors.
"I believe the suspension will be lifted because part of the reason why he originally got such a harsh punishment for the fight case was because he had already been punished from the alleged incident, and the UBSC was made aware of this," said Cohen,
who has served as an advisor to Darwish throughout the process.
"Students should start questioning the credibility of the people making these decisions and the credibility of Public Safety because they made a wrong decision," Darwish said.
On Feb. 16, the Brandeis Police, serving as Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer's designee, issued Darwish an emergency suspension, Cohen said.
In February, when Darwish first met with Director of Student Development and Conduct Erika Lamarre, "he indicated that he took responsibility for having some part in the fight," Cohen said.
As a result, Darwish was automatically found responsible for the fistfight, Cohen said.
Following the hearing for the fistfight case, Darwish submitted an appeal. However, according to Cohen, the hearing for the case involving the alleged undisclosed incident needed to be heard before the appeal for the fistfight case.
At the Feb. 29 hearing, Darwish's suspension was originally deemed to be in effect until May 2009. Darwish has been banned from campus since his arrest.
After he was involved in a fistfight on South Street the night of Feb. 16, Darwish was arrested by University Police for an earlier incident about which neither Darwish or Cohen would disclose any information. These charges were dropped.
"The point of this new hearing is basically for [Darwish] to have a sanction hearing without the Board taking the alleged incident into consideration," said Laura Cohen '09, director of the Student Union's Office of Student Conduct Advisors.
"I believe the suspension will be lifted because part of the reason why he originally got such a harsh punishment for the fight case was because he had already been punished from the alleged incident, and the UBSC was made aware of this," said Cohen,
who has served as an advisor to Darwish throughout the process.
"Students should start questioning the credibility of the people making these decisions and the credibility of Public Safety because they made a wrong decision," Darwish said.
On Feb. 16, the Brandeis Police, serving as Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer's designee, issued Darwish an emergency suspension, Cohen said.
In February, when Darwish first met with Director of Student Development and Conduct Erika Lamarre, "he indicated that he took responsibility for having some part in the fight," Cohen said.
As a result, Darwish was automatically found responsible for the fistfight, Cohen said.
Following the hearing for the fistfight case, Darwish submitted an appeal. However, according to Cohen, the hearing for the case involving the alleged undisclosed incident needed to be heard before the appeal for the fistfight case.
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