I'm on the verge of graduation and in the four years and change that I have been at this university, little has changed for the better. The university has absolutely no standards of consistency in dealing with disciplinary matters.

While students charged with riot-related offenses, most being misdemeanors, are summarily expelled and threatened with extended jail sentences, certain cases involving student-athletes are either not dealt with at all or pushed off until the student body forgets about them.

The case involving Jean Celestin is proof. While his criminal case ended Oct. 5, the university waited until after his sentencing to proceed with Judicial Affairs hearings. Consequently, they now conveniently claim that they may not have time to finish the proceedings, allowing Mr. Celestin the pleasure of graduation. In every case involving riot-related offenses, the university has fully and wholeheartedly ignored criminal proceedings, even if they would yield evidence of innocence.

They have acted with expediency unbeknownst to university offices, and done so while issuing public statements promoting prison sentences for first-time offenders. In essence, they have created a double-tiered system by which certain offenses guarantee you expulsion, and others a welcome invitation to graduation. I am a firm believer in alternatives to prison and using the educational system to rehabilitate offenders, a stance the university and county have taken with Mr. Celestin. I only wish they could do the same with all students.

The university will only convince me that it has changed when it affords the reason of the doubt in all student cases, not only those involving student-athletes committing felonies.