The University's disciplinary hearing boards include minority members and deal with ethnic intimidation effectively through the Act of Intolerance policy, said Donald Suit, the University's Office of Conduct Standards director.

However, no numerical requirement for minority board members exists when the University randomly selects students, faculty and administrators to sit on a board, he said.

Responding to allegations that hearing boards lack a racially equitable membership, Suit said the University's disciplinary system's decisions are not affected by racial prejudice.

In a presentation last week, some students charged that their particular cases may have been handled improperly due to a lack of a racially balanced board.

Presentation co-coordinator Stephen Roy (senior-public service) said the meeting aimed to show students how the disciplinary system handles racist and homophobic incidents and to encourage change.

If an incident violating University policy is motivated by intolerance of a person's race, sexual orientation, political beliefs, religion or culture it can be punished more severely as an act of intolerance, according to University policy.

In many cases, people who antagonize others on the basis of race or sexual orientation are either not punished or punishment is delayed, Roy said.

At Wednesday's presentation -- called a victim's coalition meeting -- Jamie Hurst (freshman-accounting) said she was disciplined unfairly in an incident last semester because the hearing board that reviewed Hurst's case lacked minority representation.

Black students cannot help but consider the University racist when the discipline system punishes students who are being harassed, Hurst said.

Hurst said she hit another student after she was called "bitch" and the other student refused to leave her room.

OCS sentenced Hurst to a one-semester suspension, but later lifted it in exchange for three semesters of probation, Hurst said.

However, the student who allegedly harassed her was not punished by the University because the words used against her were not considered "fighting words," she said.

According to University policy whether or not a conversation contains "fighting words" is decided by the hearing board that is reviewing the case.

The board did not think being called "bitch" was enough provocation for physical retaliation, Hurst said.

Roy cited a demand by the now defunct student group, Concerned African-Americans at Penn State, that asked the University to create a Racial Discrimination Eradication Board.