News

Who You Gonna Call?

James Britt and the Office of Student Advocacy offer students help in combatting the University's Bureaucratic Juggernaut.

For anyone who hasn't yet noticed, the University has been making a spectacle of itself lately, with a recent spate of student pepper-sprayings, casual tear-gassings, and haphazard monkey trials.

There has also been an unusual amount of recent media attention regarding the subsequent questions of lack of integrity and legitimacy within the University police and judicial systems, which are rank with injustice, shoddy investigation practices, and an odiously insufficient burden of proof, even the most flimsy of which is required in the civil and criminal courts of most civilized nations. And for most students caught up in the system, the deck is stacked against them.

"Too often students are unaware of the rights afforded them. Mainly the right to be represented. Unfortunately, many students become victims in cases where they do not get a fair chance," a University sorority member said. But while many students think there has never been a greater need for independent advocacy of their rights against the University, many don't know where to turn for help. So what can students do about the increasingly Kafkaesque bureaucratic machine?

Help is on the way, and his name is James Britt. Britt heads the Office of Student Advocacy. The OSA, which is located on the third floor of the EMU near the corpulent offices of the Emerald, exists solely to help students navigate the murky waters of campus justice. According to an OSA fact sheet, the office "researches, assists, advises, and advocates on behalf of any fee-paying student...to redress grievances that may arise at the University level." The office also helps students write petitions and appeals, and monitors the process and by intervening when necessary on the student client's behalf. The beauty of the OSA is that it is not an arm of the University. Rather, it operates as a program of the ASUO that is funded by student fees, and therefore need answer only to the students it helps.

"We represent students against the University for anything that involves conflicts with public safety, housing, grade disputes, conduct code violations and sexual harassment. We also try to advocate for change in unfair policies and rules," Britt said. The recent case of harassment against a University wrestler was without this advocacy, and because of it his lawyers say his due process rights were violated.

The office, which receives about 100 cases each term, is staffed by one full time and one part-time lawyer, as well as student advocates who are third-year law students certified as advocates.

While Britt is primarily an attorney, he must often assume the role of diplomat and negotiator in ironing out a fracas between a student and the administration. Yet he seems well equipped for the job, combining legal knowledge with an intelligent humor and an unusual amount of human understanding.

"Right now we're helping a student who was accused of having sex in his dorm lobby, who was pepper-sprayed by an OPS officer who totally over-reacted to the situation," he said.

Britt was discussing the publicized Oct. 10 incident, in which first-year student Neil O'Shaughnessy was accosted by OPS officers who thought he and a female companion were having sex in the basement television area of Hamilton Complex. The officers, upon closer investigation, discovered that they were fully clothed (O'Shaughnessy says he was giving her a massage), yet allowed the situation to escalate by claiming to smell beer on the breath of the hapless freshman.

After the resident advisor was called to write him up for the incident, O'Shaughnessy got angry and the OPS officer responded by calling Eugene police to issue a citation. At this point, the officer claims that a skirmish ensued. According to his report, O'Shaughnessy "attacked" him, tried to flee, and had to be subdued with the help of a healthy dose of pepper-spray.

Britt said that this is another case where the facts don't fit the result. "He was pepper-sprayed after the officer had gotten his name from his I.D. card. There was no reason to detain him and escalate the situation by being so confrontational," he said. Britt said that by the end of the incident there were three OPS officers and two Eugene police officers on the scene. "The probable cause needed to detain him (reason to believe a crime is being committed) is questionable," he said.

The result of the alleged battle royale was that O'Shaughnessy landed in the Lane County Adult Corrections Facility charged with assault, harassment, and minor possession of alcohol, with bail set at $405, according to the Oct. 13 Oregon Daily Emerald. The worst part is that he is now under the jurisdiction of Student Conduct Coordinator Elaine Green and her dubious credibility as an administrator of justice.

This is one case where the Office of Student Advocacy is helping by raising the issue of injustice with the OPS. "We're putting them on notice that this kind of behavior is not appropriate," Britt said. One limitation the OSA faces--especially pertinent in this case--is that the office has no real authority to overturn a decision. They can only make sure the student gets his or her due process rights and advise the student to demand redress in the courts if necessary.

"This will be a tough fight to win," Britt said. "Rightly or wrongly, the [Eugene and University] police are like a fraternity--they're going to back each other up. Here you've got five officers all telling the same story. That's pretty much impossible to beat."

Student Conduct Code violations like these are the most common cases that come through the office, said Audre Bonadea, former Student Defender Supervisor, said. Here's how it works: A student is notified by mail of his or her offense. After bringing the case to the office, a defender decides whether a defense is possible. The defender also advises the student whether to request a formal or informal hearing. In a formal hearing the defender would also represent the student and may negotiate for lighter sanctions.

Another area the OSA helps in is academic disputes. Britt recounted the case of a student who recently received a grade he felt he did not deserve. "He was a displaced timber worker, working his way through school in the Public Policy department. If he made the honor roll he would be in his hometown paper, which was important because he planned to try to find work there. So there was a direct relationship between his future and the grade in this class," Britt said. Britt was able to get the professor to reevaluate the grade and change it in the student's favor.

Some of the cases Britt receives are not defendable. Britt laughingly told the story of some students who, on a bet, threw beer bottles from their dorm windows, trying to smash through the windows on buildings across the quad.

"Sometimes students want us to intervene because they say they were drunk," he said. He said he also sees his share of stupidity on the part of students, "like the recent case where someone tried to sell a bag of pot to his Resident Assistant."

Britt knows University procedure better than anyone. He has received both his B.A. in 1986, and his law degree in 1993 from the University of Oregon. He became the director of the Office of Student Advocacy in 1996. He says that students who feel they have a legitimate grievance against the University should stop by the office where defenders have the knowledge which can help students make informed decisions when the University brings action against them.

Chris Kenning, a senior majoring in Journalism, is a staff writer for the Oregon Commentator