Guidelines for student conduct will come under review next month, according to an announcement by the GUSA Senate, saying yesterday that it will join the university’s Disciplinary Review Committee in taking a closer look at its judicial process. Senate Speaker and former member of THE HOYA Editorial Board Eden Schiffmann (COL ’08), who was appointed to the committee last year, said that next month the university will initiate a comprehensive study of the judicial process. In addition, he said that the GUSA Senate plans to work in conjunction with the student association in developing a “parallel review” of the judicial process, which will be led by the GUSA Senate Committee on Student Life and will make recommendations on how to improve the process. “The DRC plans to begin an independent review of Georgetown’s entire judicial process, including the Code of Student Conduct,” he said. “They’re going to have someone from another university take a look at our process and evaluate it. On Feb. 14, a representative from another Jesuit university will be visiting Georgetown to begin the review, but “the committee as a whole is going to participate in that review,” Schiffmann said. Due to the recent changes in the university’s alcohol policy, the Student Code of Conduct has been a topic of extensive discussion among students, Schiffmann said, but other provisions have also been largely overlooked. “Everyone talks about the alcohol policy,” he said. “We are going to look at every other policy.” He said there are certain provisions, including those that address sexual abuse, assault and the burden of proof, that many feel need to be re-evaluated. For example, the current Code of Conduct fails to account for instances of self-defense when dealing with assault cases and has a very narrow definition of sexual assault, according to Schiffmann. While the Senate has chosen to leave further discussion of the alcohol policy to the GUSA Alcohol Policy Review Committee, he said that “basically, everything else is fair game.” At the weekly Senate meeting, GUSA senators were asked to review the Code of Conduct over the next week and prepare recommendations for their next meeting. Alex Dimodica (COL ’10), chair of the Committee on Student Life, said in the meeting that her committee will play an integral role in this process. “We’re going to make a long list of problem areas,” Dimodica said. “Although these ideas won’t all be immediately included, our work is not futile; it can be passed down.” The Senate plans to present recommendations to the university when it begins its official review in mid-February. “We just think it’s fortuitous timing that we’re starting our review at the same time as the university’s, and hopefully we’ll be able to raise some important questions,” Schiffmann said. “It’s probably the most extensive review the Student Code of Conduct has gotten in years.”