Letter to the Editor
Expel me not: a student’s response
To UI history Associate Professor Marshall Poe, my sincerest condolences go out to you and your family (Daily Iowan, Oct. 26). Allow me to clarify something to both you and fellow readers of The Daily Iowan: I am not the student who pounded on your door at 3 a.m., just a concerned student.
I have several problems with your opinion article.
For instance in your title you use the word “charged.” Not convicted. We live in a country with a court system to determine guilt. By calling for student expulsion over mere allegations, you undercut our legal system. You undercut the Sixth and Eighth Amendments of the Constitution. The Sixth Amendment calls for a fair trial and the right to face one’s charges and support a defense — something that you will not grant to us students. The Eighth Amendment protects against cruel and unusual punishment, something that you are calling for.
Professor Poe, you state in your article, “[Students] could be dropped … and told to go away until they are mature enough to be members of our community.” You state that there should be, “No more committees. No more consultants.” How do you propose we determine that a particular student has been deemed “mature enough to be members of our community” without the use of a committee or a consultant? This appears to be a logical fallacy.
I do not know whether there is a counterpart to the UI Student Code of Conduct for faculty members, but I imagine that there is. I propose this: If I can be expelled for the charges that you listed in your article, then you can be fired if you are charged with a similar crime. This seems a fair and a natural extension to your argument.
Eric Olson
UI freshman
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