Confusion sparked over drinking consequences at ECU

Earlier this month, Club 519 owners from Uptown Greenville met with East Carolina University Vice Chancellor, Virginia Hardy, to discuss a follow up that turned into a discussion of student discipline in relation to drinking.

Bar owners present at the meeting included StillLife, 5th Street Distillery, Pantana Bobs, Club 519 and Buggy’s. Club 519 owner Rob Waldron said the meeting initially began with a general conversation about how to make everyone downtown and within ECU administration happy. Waldron spoke up as the conversation turned to drinking tickets.

“I told them (ECU administration) that I don’t trust them. I think if not the university itself, then people working for the university are against downtown and out to get us. Even if it isn’t university policy, there are people on campus that have called ALE or Greenville Police to instigate investigations, mass ID checks, and underage ticketing,” Waldron said.

A tweet posted by Club 519 after the meeting sparked conversation among ECU students in regard to ECU’s policies surrounding underage ticketing. Multiple users commented that they were told by ECU’s Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities (OSSR) that if they had over two underage tickets, they would be expelled or suspended. Many cited a “three strike” policy mentioned to them by administration.

ECU Alumna, Jackie, who wished to be identified by only her first name, said she has had a long ordeal with the OSSR. Jackie graduated from ECU with a BS in Anthropology in 2016, and a BA in Criminal Justice in 2019, after beginning her education with ECU back in 2005.

A few months into her freshman year at ECU in 2005, Jackie was written up for drinking in the dorms, but did not receive a drinking ticket. She then got an underage drinking ticket downtown at Element. Two years later, she said she was driving and got pulled over for an incomplete stop. Her official charge was driving after consumption and being under 21, and an underage drinking ticket. She did not receive a DUI.

“My experience with the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities was the worst. I got an email saying that my actions went against the code of conduct and as a result I was being suspended and needed to come in to sign some paperwork. I was told that I violated their three strikes rule, and that my first offense was "so severe" that it counted twice. They told me I was suspended for a whole year,” Jackie said.

Jackie said that the thing that frustrates her most about her experience was she watched a fellow student get arrested, for the same reason, who did not receive the same consequences as her due to his status at ECU.

“The most infuriating thing about this is that the same night I was arrested, one of the guys on the football team was also arrested with a DUI for blowing more than twice the legal limit. I don't remember his name, but it was a news-worthy story in the paper and circulated around every other school in our conference. He ended up starting in the game that weekend,” Jackie said.

Associate Dean of Students and Director of the OSSR, Leila Faranesh, said that the OSSR does not expel based on a second drinking ticket and doesn’t have a three-strike policy. She said OSSR takes each case individually and follows the sanctioning guidelines put into place by ECU, which are based on the nature of the incident and the student’s prior conduct.

Faranesh pointed out that suspension and expulsion are different. Suspension is removal or separation from the institution for a designated period of time. Expulsion is permanent removal from the institution, where after five year’s time the student can petition to return to the university under suspension, according to Faranesh.

“If a student gets a drinking ticket and they’re facing expulsion, it’s most likely due to their prior conduct history. Two drinking citations would not get somebody suspended or expelled unless they had a prior record that would warrant it,” Faranesh said. “On campus and off campus drinking tickets and citations are treated similarly. Any violation of the student code of conduct could lead to suspension or expulsion, it just depends on the nature of the violation.”

Faranesh said she directs students to the Code of Conduct, which she and all of ECU strongly advises students to review.

While the code of conduct at ECU remains clear to students and available online, students replying to Club 519’s tweet claim OSSR mentioned a three-strike system to many of them, which according to Faranesh, is not policy.

After informing to Jackie that OSSR does not have a three strike policy, she is still in disbelief about it.

“They’re lying, for sure. I was on academic suspension for a couple of semesters after the fact, but the semester had already started when I was arrested for the incomplete stop. It had zero to do with academics. I wasn’t in any other legal trouble before or anytime after,” said Jackie.

The student code of conduct can be found here.

Club 519 tweeted about the meeting:

Bar owners met with vice chancellor Dr. Virginia Hardy last night. She said that it is NOT ECU POLICY to suspend or expel students with more than one underage drinking ticket. Anyone have reason to think differently?

— Club 519 (@Club_Five19) January 15, 2020