Today’s Atlanticville had an article about “improving relations” between Monmouth University and its surrounding municipalities – namely Long Branch. I love Long Branch and I think some exciting and creative things are going on over there. I’m also a university alumnus who fought vociferously for students’ rights while an undergraduate. I consider myself privileged to continue that fight as I get older and move up and on through the game of life.
But what always gets me is how the students at Monmouth, by and large, don’t care about this fight. Taken from today’s Atlanticville:
Hayes told the council that the city and the university will be taking their partnership one step further this year and will be sharing information on the addresses of students living off campus.
“We have been able to make some significant headway,” Hayes said at the meeting. “It looks like the university will be willing to share some information with us about where students are housed, for the purpose of safety.”
Anyone who knows the story about the people involved here know that this has nothing to do with student safety. Kevin Hayes is the head of the inspection department in Long Branch. He’s been sued time and time again by local landlords for not granting Certificates of Occupancy for completely well-groomed and maintained houses. And not that it should matter in this particular case, but Hayes’ son was a Long Branch police officer who was one of the major causes of problems between the off-campus students and Long Branch. Hayes, Jr. and another young police officer in Long Branch were shaking down minority students in their off-campus homes and raiding their drug caches…so THEY could sell it on their own!
Of course they got no prison time because they’re politically-connected and this is New Jersey, but it makes me sick to read that the students “get a little better every year” when there are deep, troubling problems on both sides of the argument.
But when you have a student body that doesn’t give a hoot, what are you to do to stop these injustices? Re-read that selection from the article above – that’s illegal, folks. Going to school at a college does not permit that college to share your information with the local police force – especially when that police force has been sued in the past for being overzealous in their enforcement against college students and when they’ve even had to remove officers for shaking students down!
The university surely won’t tell the students anything about this – they relish the fact that 99% of the university community are lemmings who do what they’re told and (even worse) believe what they’re told. This is a tragic reality not just at Monmouth, but many of today’s private colleges and universities. You want to read something even more disgusting?
“If a student is involved in an issue of misconduct off campus, the police will send a copy of the report to us and I will review it,” Nagy said. “We will charge the student under the code of conduct. The student will go through the city’s court and through the Monmouth University court.
“The student is charged twice,” Nagy said. “Just because you do not physically live on campus does not mean you can do whatever you want. A student’s actions affect our reputation.”
That’s right folks – forget about your 5th amendment rights against double jeopardy! You get charged TWICE for the same “crime” in this circus! And having been through that rodeo once or twice, I can tell you that the school’s judicial officers know that this is illegal. Students are often cited by the local police on a Thursday night and expected to go through the university judicial process within a week or two when their actual court date is a month or more away. In essence, the school attempts to find you guilty before the United States legal system!
When you bring this up to the university, they cite their student code of conduct. Most students (with a head on their shoulders) then cite their Constitutional rights. The university ALWAYS comes back with the fact that they are a private university and do not need to respect those rights…which is a lie thanks to President Clinton. President Clinton signed something called the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 which snuck in the provision that if a private university receives ANY federal funding, they MUST respect the Constitutional rights of the students.
That’s generally when you get the university to sit down and start tapping their foot.
But what does it matter? Civil rights have gotten so bad in the Long Branch/Ocean Township area that an article like this can actually be published, describing how the entities intend on destroying students’ rights, and no one will do anything about it. Watch – we’ll get another edition of the Atlanticville next week and there will be no student response…
There’s just no passion any more in undergraduates.
Hey man I go to rowan university and the hearing board charged me with some serious crime. So when I showed up to the hearing I asked if anything I say will be used against me in court. The promply said yes, and thats when I said I wont be answering any questions. good day. and walked out. I filed an appeal and I have been waiting to drop the constitution bomb on them. I didn’t know Clinton put a prevision in. but i was def going to say to them that if they receive fed or state taxes they must follow the constitution, and even if they tell me that I signed some contract so I cant do that, well then I’ll let them know that any contract that is in violation of the constitution is void. Thank god for the constitution it trumps all.
Any advice would help also
Matt
Hi Matt.
Unfortunately, this is the state of college life in New Jersey today. There are so many unspoken, unconstitutional rules that are in play that hurt not only college students themselves but young America’s understanding of what is right and wrong in America. It’s sad and it’s pathetic – but it’s also the way that many of these university administrators make themselves (and their jobs) relevant.
You were 100% correct to walk out of that hearing when they announced that information could be used against you in court. When I used to fight with the Monmouth administration, I would remind them that the United States Constitution guarantees the right against self-incrimination and that forcing me to testify (or to sit silent) in a university-sponsored court prior to the United States calling my case was illegal (which it is).
You are correct to hold the Constitution bomb for now. Most universities will take that appeal and give it to their staff counsel and come back with something stating that you signed a student code of conduct. Your next step should be to file an appeal that the student code of conduct is unconstitutional. If the school starts to push back, then you should contact Chris Christie via a written letter explaining that your Constitutional rights are being violated by Rowan University. Be sure to name each and every university official who has violated your rights and how they’ve done so and be sure to send CC’s to those people as well as the University President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
The university will stop dead in their tracks.
There is an awkward, multi-layered power structure at college and universities. Students have become these individuals who are afraid of disrupting the status quo because the administrations make them feel like they are out there on a limb if they do so. Then you have administrators who take zero initiative to make their campuses better because the university President does the same to them. And why does the university President do this? Because his or her Board of Trustees has them on a short leash, too.
It’s disgusting what college has become. Good luck in your fight – let us know how you do.