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May 13, 2003
BY DEBRA PICKETT
Staff Reporter
Students disciplined in the violent melee involving Glenbrook
North High School students might be facing more than just an ugly
end to their high school days. Their college careers might also be
on the line.
BY JANET RAUSA
FULLER Staff Reporter
Citing the "devastating" impact of last week's violent
hazing episode on the school and its students, Glenbrook North
High School announced Monday the suspensions--and possible
expulsions--of students who took part in an incident that has
thrust the well-heeled north suburban school into the
international spotlight.
Principal Mike Riggle said the students, all seniors, have
been suspended for 10 days--the maximum allowed by state
law--for breaking school conduct rules and public laws against
hazing and assault and battery.
The school will recommend to the Northfield Township
District 225 Board that the students be expelled, Riggle said.
He refused to say how many students have been suspended.
Junior girls hurt in the hazing could face similar punishment,
Riggle said.
Seniors learned of their suspensions in meetings at school
and were escorted from the building.
Sophomore Brittney Scala, who saw two girls being escorted
out in tears, said she has little sympathy for them and others
involved.
"Everyone's disappointed in them," Scala, 16, said. "No one
wants to have anything to do with them."
The May 4 hazing at Chipilly Woods in Northbrook--which
some students videotaped and photographed--was an annual
initiation of junior girls at the hands of senior girls, who
beat them and covered them with paint, mud, excrement and
other substances. Five girls wound up in the hospital with
injuries.
One student defended his sister who was suspended. "They
didn't do anything wrong . . . [the junior girls] signed up
for this," he said.
Craig Yudell of Northbrook, father of 18-year-old Valerie,
a suspended student, said his daughter told him there were as
many as 50 students punished. Officials would not confirm that
figure.
Valerie has been accepted at Western Illinois University,
he said. But Yudell was concerned the suspension would harm
her future.
"They made one mistake, and you're punishing them for the
rest of their lives," he told school board members and about
40 observers at a meeting Monday night.
He acknowledged Valerie was involved in the hazing, but,
"She was in none of the swinging or hitting or anything like
that."
When asked if Valerie should apologize for what happened,
Yudell said, "She should. She apologized [at school] to a
couple of girls who were there."
Some other parents said the off-campus incident was not a
school concern, but school officials argued it is their
concern because students involved have been identified as
Glenbrook North students and because "some of the
communications about the event took place at school," Riggle
said.
Meanwhile, an 18-year-old senior girl filed a lawsuit
Monday, hours after finding out she had been suspended. Marnie
Holz is suing the school because she will miss a cram session
for an advanced placement course in psychology. She can still
take the AP course test at Glenbrook South.
The suspensions are a reversal of the school's position,
which last week was confined to restricting students'
participation in extracurricular activities because the event
took place off campus.
After meeting with attorneys, school officials found they
could take academic disciplinary action, Riggle said. He said
those suspended broke school rules against hazing and
harassment as well as Illinois School Code rules prohibiting
membership in "any public school fraternity, sorority or
secret society."
Students can appeal their suspensions or expulsions to
"hearing officers" who will review the cases and report to the
school board. The board has final say in expulsions.
Expelled seniors would not be allowed to attend graduation
ceremonies. But they would still be able to get their
Glenbrook North diploma through "alternative educational
services," Riggle said.
The lawsuit by the suspended student, however, argues that
the suspension means Marnie would miss exams and quizzes, a
review for her physics final and rack up 10 unexcused
absences, which "would significantly lower her grade."
Leslie Holz said her daughter was at the event, but Marnie
only watched as the hazing unfolded.
The school suspended the girl after telling Leslie Holz
that her daughter was involved in a "secret society" and
hazing.
A criminal probe is ongoing.
Contributing: Lucio Guerrero and Ana
Mendieta.
"There's a committee that evaluates each case," Robin Kaler, a
spokesperson at the University's Urbana-Champaign campus, said
Monday. "They look at each report individually to determine whether
the student might pose a clear and present danger to other students
here. If the answer is 'yes,' they recommend to the director of
admissions that our offer be rescinded."
It's very likely, admissions experts said, the suspended
Glenbrook North seniors will face additional questions, and possibly
disciplinary sanctions, from the colleges and universities they'd
planned to attend.
"Their admission could be revoked," said J.P. Allen, president of
My Footpath, a Chicago firm that offers counseling and coaching
services for high school students applying to highly competitive
colleges. "At the very least, colleges are going to look twice. They
all reserve the right to change their minds based on a student's
performance senior year."
High school seniors who have been admitted to the University of
Illinois and who have written back agreeing to enroll there are
already subject to the school's disciplinary code, Kaler said. Under
this code, she said, "students who have been caught hazing on our
campus have, at times, been separated from the university." It's
also possible, Kaler said, that students involved in violent
incidents like the one May 4 at Chipilly Woods forest preserve near
Northbrook "might have to agree to special conditions" before being
allowed to attend the University of Illinois.
"They might have to take a violence-prevention course," she said,
"or might not be allowed to live in a dormitory."
At Northwestern University, admissions officers send a form to
high school guidance counselors each spring, asking them to report
any "significant changes" in an accepted student's performance or
behavior. The reports are evaluated by the admissions office on a
case-by-case basis and could trigger responses ranging from no
action to a retraction of admission. Northwestern, where 81
Glenbrook North seniors have enrolled, according to the high
school's Web site, does not give a specific definition of what must
be reported, said spokesman Charles Loebbaka, so it's not clear that
the Glenbrook High School administrators would have to report a
student's involvement in the violence in the forest preserve.
Harvard--where two Glenbrook North seniors have
enrolled--requires applicants and their high schools to report all
"changes of status," including suspensions or expulsions. Each case
is reviewed by the university's admissions committee, Marlyn McGrath
Lewis, Harvard College's admissions director, said Monday, adding,
"We are not reluctant to withdraw the offer of admission." Harvard
does just that in a handful of cases "every year," Lewis said.
"Physical violence, or serious harassment, this would be a great
concern to us."
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