Student Chief Justice Lock Whiteside presented his proposal to increase Student Conduct’s burden of proof to 95 percent at the Student Senate meeting Wednesday.

Student Senate President Greg Doucette plans to draft legislation on the issue to send to Chancellor James L. Oblinger, Provost Larry Nielsen, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Tom Stafford, the college deans and the Faculty Senate Oct. 26.

The burden of proof is 70 to 75 percent, but if Whiteside’s proposal passes, the accused will have to be proven guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt” when being prosecuted by the Office of Student Conduct, according to Whiteside.

“It’s to ensure that professors and police officers bring more information to the board [during a case],” Whiteside, a first-year graduate student in social studies education, said.

In his presentation to the Student Senate, Whiteside said “our current system is broken,” and “students and faculty have lost faith in the Office of Student Conduct.”

“There’s a lot of doubt with current standards,” he said.

According to Whiteside, his proposal is based on the judicial systems already in place at UNC Chapel Hill and the University of Virginia and the one used in the criminal court system.

The proposal also reflects how the Judicial Board used to operate, he said.

According to Whiteside, there was “documented proof of the ‘beyond the reasonable doubt’ standard in the Honor Code” in 1969. This was changed during revisions in the 1980s, and the current Code of Student Conduct was enacted in April 1990.

Kenneth Webb, chair of the Senate University Affairs Committee and junior in computer science, said it should make a “pretty huge difference” if the Senate passes the proposal.

“The judicial board can be more sure when convicting [people],” he said.

Student Body President Bobby Mills said if this is passed, it will give students involved in conduct issues more opportunity to learn from their experiences.

“It’s a big emotional burden,” he said.