Honor Court should have handled McClendon case

TO THE EDITOR:

I am disappointed by the egregious failure in Dr. Adam Grant Student Congress and The Daily Tar Heel to follow the academic rights of Ms. Shaniqua McClendon given to her by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). These rights keep Ms. McClendon's academic information from being released without her explicit consent.

It further pains me to see Student Congress and the DTH taking on the roll of public decider and judge rather than allowing Honor Court — the backbone of our student system — to work efficiently. Calling upon an ethical review takes judgment out of the hands of Honor Court and gives Student Congress more power than it holds. If Congress felt that more information was needed with regards to the budgetary needs of Concepts of Colors then it is simply a finance committee concern. That is what the issue is with regards to Student Congress" not Ms. McClendon's possible error in academic judgment.

I use ""possible"" in the last sentence as it is not for us to decide" but for the Student Body Attorney General and if needed members of Honor Court.

While the DTH opinion page chose to point blame on Congress" they forgot (not surprisingly) to look at their own actions which led to greater public knowledge that left Ms. McClendon feeling attacked and ""guilty.""

I hope that in the future" our entire community will respect the rights of our students and respect the fact that we are students after all. We make mistakes and we grow.



Andrew Coonin
Senior
Public Policy and Dramatic Art