HOUSING'S DRUG EVICTION TORCHED THE BOUNDS OF COMMON SENSE

University freshman Richard Brooker learned a lesson in almost Kafkaesque
justice last week. Brooker's room in Thornton Hall was raided Feb. 22 after
the Eugene Police Department was tipped off by a DPS officer that Brooker
was dealing drugs. All they found was his roommate, a broken scale and some
pipes. When Brooker arrived, they found only enough marijuana for personal
consumption. On this flimsy evidence, he was charged with being a dealer.
The EPD put him in jail for a night, typically not done for a mere
possession case that got out of hand. Which it was. The dealing charges
were dropped, and Brooker pleaded guilty to possession.

But the trial doesn't end there. Almost as soon as charges were filed and
Brooker was incarcerated at Lane County Jail, University Housing issued a
summary eviction notice. Once Brooker was out of jail, he had only one day
to get his things together and leave.

With no due process, he was kicked out. To add insult to injury, he has to
pay the penalty for breaking the residence hall contract : $9 for every day
remaining.

Summary eviction notices happen without a conduct code hearing -- without
any process at all -- when housing determines that there is an "emergency"
that might affect "safety for the residence hall community." Housing
officials say that in cases like this, they don't wait for things that
happen off-campus.

We think they need to wait. There are very good reasons why the U.S.
criminal justice system works the way it does. What if the evidence found
at the scene is bogus? What if all the charges are dropped? Theoretically,
Brooker could have been evicted for no crime at all. As it is, the reaction
by housing far outweighs his transgression.

The description of this freshman as an immediate threat to students in the
residence halls is bizarre. Certainly, there have been students who could
have been conceivably greater threats who haven't been forced to leave the
halls.

Sung-min Kim, who had an actual weapon, a loaded BB gun in his room, wasn't
evicted.

David Gantman, who had several boxes of ammo confiscated from his room,
wasn't evicted. Neither of these two students had any intention of hurting
others, and both had legitimate reasons for possessing the items. Yet
ammunition and weapons are still infinitely more dangerous than a broken
scale, some bongs and an eighth of an ounce of marijuana.

Brooker deserves a fair hearing and a process to determine the threat level
he poses. University Housing stepped over the line, and they should step
back to reassess the situation.