Several Student Union officials are coming to the defense of Mamoon Darwish (TYP), who was suspended after being arrested by Waltham and Brandeis officers Feb. 16 for getting into a fistfight on South Street. The University Board on Student Conduct held a hearing and found Darwish responsible for the fight. There are two cases against Darwish, according to Laura Cohen '09, who has served as an advisor to Darwish and is a member of the Student Union's Office of Student Conduct Advisors. Before the fistfight took place, a separate individual accused Darwish of an undisclosed incident, but she later retracted these accusations, Cohen said. Neither Darwish nor Cohen would describe the incident.

According to Cohen, Erika Lamarre, the director of student development and conduct, said Darwish failed to hand in his disciplinary process form within 48 hours, so his case (on the undisclosed incident) wasn't heard before the UBSC. Instead, the administrative action was taken, and Darwish is not allowed on campus, Cohen said.

Darwish was granted an appeals hearing on the alleged incident and it will be heard before the University Board of Appeals Tuesday, Cohen said. This board will decide whether to uphold the sanctions against Darwish, who is waiting for a date to be set for an appeal on the fistfight case.

Darwish declined to comment on the case at this point.

In order for Darwish to be allowed back on campus, section 21.7 of the Rights and Responsibilities handbook states that Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer and the Committee on Academic Standing must approve.

Cohen said Darwish filed the appeal because several sections in the handbook were violated in the course of the UBSC hearing. Under section 19.6 it states that "notice of a hearing date shall be delivered to the student . at least 48 hours in advance of the hearing." According to Cohen, "the hearing was called 24 hours after [Darwish] signed his Choice of Action form and therefore, his right to adequate notice of his hearing date was violated," Cohen said.

The Choice of Action form allows the accused to choose between accepting or denying responsibility for the accusation. If the student accepts, administrators implement a punishment. Because Darwish denied responsibility, he went forward with the UBSC hearing Feb. 29.

The Board of Appeals, composed of one student, two professors appointed by the Department of Student Life and one professor appointed by the Faculty Senate chair, hears cases if they decide new evidence has come to light or procedural errors were made.

"[Darwish] was told that he was not allowed to bring character witnesses, but section 19.9 does not distinguish between character witnesses and percipient witnesses. Therefore, his right to call witnesses on his behalf was denied," Cohen wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. Lamarre said a couple weeks ago that character witnesses are not generally permitted in UBSC hearings.

The handbook section states the accused student can introduce witnesses during the hearing, but doesn't specify which type.

Associate Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams stood by Lamarre's decision. He said last month, "In general, I know that when I have been a part of the judicial process as an administrator ... character witnesses haven't been taken in because they didn't witness the actual event in question."

Lamarre declined to comment because UBSC cases are confidential.

Student Union Advocate Brian Paternostro '08 said there were evidentiary problems with the case. He said Darwish requested the photographs of his injuries sustained in the fight be submitted as evidence. However, Paternostro said, the UBSC only saw photographs of the other student involved in the fight.

"When we found out about [Darwish] we were particularly disturbed by the due process," Paternostro said.

In a letter written on Facebook, Darwish wrote of his case, "It is discrimination based on color, religion and national origin. As a result, my rights to a fair trial have been destroyed."

Darwish is a Palestinian student.

Student Union President Shreeya Sinha '09 said the case is representative of a greater tension that exists between students and University authorities. "Whether it's discrimination or not discrimination, students mistrust the administration and the police," she wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. Keeping its eyes on recent events, the Student Union has developed a student Bill of Rights to more effectively uphold the rights of students, Union officials said.

Cohen, a co-author of the bill, said "There's a whole section on due process that's attempting to address many of the issues this case has brought up. It's not just an issue of due process with Mamoon. There's certainly something to say about other people as well."

"A Student Bill of Rights is more important than ever," Sinha said. "The administration must be an active part of this."

Assistant Dean of Student Life Maggie Balch said she doesn't understand the need for the bill.

"I really don't understand it because Rights and Responsibilities is a document that's essentially written to help protect students' rights. . I don't mean to minimize it, but I just don't get it," she said.