Instead, they're judged by a board of their peers.

"College students are at the age that sometimes they make poor choices, and they shouldn't have to pay for those choices their entire lives, unless it is severe," said Tanya Massey, an OSU residence area coordinator. "We know sometimes students will be rowdy or get carried away."

The student judicial boards at OSU contain about 40 students sitting on four boards handling certain policy violations in the halls. Each board is assigned to hear cases from a specific residential hall.

Usually, the boards hear policy violations such as not having an escort at the proper times, noise problems and minor vandalism, Massey said.

Nothing severe, such as a sexual assault, would be sent to the judicial board, Massey said.

"We don't ever want our students to feel overwhelmed, or the student who is the respondent to feel he or she doesn't have a fair chance," Massey said.

Catherine Bourne, a second-year graduate student and the student judicial board adviser, is the residence director for Kerr-Drummond residence hall.

How it works

Board members read the incident report, question the student and the student tells his or her side of the story. The board then discusses whether the student should receive a sanction and what the sanction should be.

For sanctions to be imposed, a majority of board members must agree that the student is responsible.

"We don't punish," Bourne said. "We're here to educate."

The board can recommend the student be put on campus dining probation, be moved to a different residence hall or removed from his or her residence hall.

Massey said sometimes a student will have to make educational posters, create and present a program for his or her residential floor or entire building, write a letter of apology, pay for damages, or write a response paper on how his or her behavior affects other students.

If a student disagrees with the sanction, the student has three business days to file an appeal with the Residential Hall Association office or within the Judicial Oversight Committee.

A member of the Judicial Oversight Committee sits in on every judicial board hearing.

"They're there to make sure the student's rights aren't violated," Bourne said.

Noise complaint

Cox and his friends were hanging out in a room when the community facilitator, similar to a residence assistant, told them they needed to be quiet.

After warnings, Cox said they were told the next day they would be going to the judicial board.

The group had to write a flyer listing 25 rules that they couldn't violate and have 25 people sign the paper with the rules.

Cox said the experience didn't make him or his friends want to be quiet.

"We either went to another person's room not next to the CF or made sure he wasn't there."

At the University of Oklahoma, judicial boards are split into jurisdictions.

Matthew Deeg, a mathematics and economics senior, is on one of two campus disciplinary councils that oversee major violations.

He is also a member of one of several campus disciplinary boards overseeing minor violations, and he is the OU Intrafraternity Council's chief justice, who oversees Greek social policy violations.

"We don't really hear that many cases, but our jurisdiction ranges from intramural (violations) to violations of Greek social policy and to cases of vandalism and hazing," he said.

The campuswide boards include students, faculty and staff. The boards can discipline violations through community service, probation and other punishments.

Peers more effective

She said students respond better to a board of people their age.

"We understand them more than an adult per se, and we can relate," Oliver said.

Other universities use different methods of discipline that do not involve students serving on boards.

At Tulsa Community College, the dean of student services at each campus investigates complaints against students and determines any disciplinary sanctions.

''Any complaint against a student for a possible infraction of the student code of conduct goes to one of us," Metro Campus Dean of Student Services Margaret Lee said.

''The process is different given the alleged infraction and the sanction being considered,'' Lee said.

Unlike public universities' student judicial boards, any policy violation at Oral Roberts University goes through the Student Development Office, said Jeremy Burton, ORU's director of communications.

"There isn't any student representation," Burton said.

According to the disciplinary procedures from ORU's Student Handbook, all rules and regulations adopted by ORU are subject to the university's honor code.

A student breaks the honor code when he or she smokes tobacco, drinks alcohol or commits "illicit sexual acts, including homosexual behavior," among other things, according to the code.

Reports of conduct that are offensive, unacceptable, destructive and in violation of ORU regulations are made to the office of the appropriate dean, such as the dean of each respective graduate school for graduate students, or the dean of men or dean of women for undergraduate students.

The dean reviews the nature of the complaint, and when the dean has completed the review, he or she has the authority to impose appropriate discipline, according to the handbook.

The student has the right to seek an administrative review with the dean of campus ministry and the dean of student life if he or she believes the discipline was unfair. Students can also appeal to a disciplinary committee and to the Board of Regents.