An article in yesterday's Collegian titled "USG to examine judicial affairs" touched on some important points, but failed to mention some things that Penn State students probably don't know.

I was hauled up on false charges back in 1992, but I was very lucky.

When confronted by Judicial Affairs, students do not have any constitutional rights. They have only the rights given to them by Dear Old State, and some of them might be shocking.

Among the most important things missing is the right to counsel. You cannot hire a lawyer.

Another is that the head of Judicial Affairs — the one who brought the charges in the first place — acts as both prosecution and defense. But, of course, it is an impartial person, so you'll get a fair hearing.

Yet another thing is the presumption of guilt. That's right. You are presumed guilty in certain circumstances and must prove your innocence.

I think this may have been repealed, but one of the "crimes" of my day was called "inappropriately directed laughter." In other words, speech codes — or thought-crime, as I prefer to call it.

Your group of peers might be anything but that. Mine was a rag-tag collection of freshmen with nothing better to do. I was 24 years old at the time. Had I not known a professor of psychology who made an argument for me, I might have been expelled for something I never did.

So students, check out the law of Dear Old State and urge the Undergraduate Student Government to take action against the things you see as unfair.

Believe it or not, USG does have a lot of power on campus, and when they are given a mandate they really can make real changes.