Would you like it if your apartment building had its own court?  Your neighbor could accuse you of a crime. Haul you into court. Where a jury could convict you.  And punish you.

We have the equivalent at many universities. These schools have created any number of “laws”.  To govern campus life.

To me this is idiotic. Schools should teach. Period. If one kid calls another kid a name it should be between the two of them. The school should keep its nose out of it. Unless one of them breaks a real law.

Suppose your neighbor calls you stupid. Or mocks you. Or laughs at your clothes. Or makes you feel uncomfortable. Or spouts ideas you find offensive. Do you feel you should haul the guy before a neighborhood tribunal?  If it finds him guilty should the court order him to clean your car for six months?  (They used to do this in Mao’s super-communist China.)

If that sounds stupid, it is. Call me ignorant or simple. (I prefer simple. That sword has two edges.) But how did we come to this stage with universities? They have their own court systems. Where they mete out punishments. They expel students, no less. They humiliate them in public.  They black-mark their records.

Lots of their cases have to do with sexual complaints. He said, she said.  So schools proclaim kids must follow step-by-step procedures.  She has to say “Yes” at various important junctures.  So if he skips past one of the junctures she can nail him in campus court.

What a croc.  What is a school doing sticking its nose into sex between students?  It’s none of the school’s business.

President Obama made sexual abuse on campuses a federal offense.  Why is a campus any different than Main Street? Sexual abuse is sexual abuse.  So call a cop.  Not a campus cop. A cop.

These campus courts are ridiculous.  Some are real kangaroo courts.  They let a student accuse another without formal evidence.  Without being cross-examined.  They won’t let the accused defend himself or herself.

Instead of trying to improve such court systems, schools should destroy them. If there are disputes, let kids settle them themselves.  That’s what happens in the rest of society.  If kids break the law call the cops.  Take the matter to the community’s existing judicial system.

Here is the most serious problem with these campus systems:  Sometimes they try to handle genuine crimes.  Crimes that the cops and local courts should handle.

How did we get to this point with universities?  With treating them as if they are somehow separate from the rest of the community?

We have done this with the Roman Catholic Church. Unfortunately.  Church elders had this mindset: The church would deal with crimes their priests committed.  That did not work out well, now, did it?

A crime is a crime is a crime.  A priest molests a kid? The fact that he is a priest should have nothing to do with it. He commits a crime. And those who know about it and don’t report it to authorities? They also commit a crime.

A doctor and nurse steal money from a patient.  The fact that they work for a big hospital has nothing to do with it.  This is a crime.  Call the cops.

A student molests a kid on a college campus? The fact that he is a student should have nothing to do with it.

Too many universities are bubbles.  They protect profs, administrators and students from reality.  And they do real damage to some students by sticking their nose into situations they should stay out of.

From Tom…as in Morgan

You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com. You can read more of his writing at tomasinmorgan.com.