Student Bill of Rights in the Works

By Jon Feldheim '98
The entire high-school is aware of efforts to institute an official honor code this year. What you may not know is that a student Bill of Rights is also in the works. Upset over ambiguities in school rules and a lack of clear cut statements, seniors Geoff Anders and Keith Zeuner have drafted a seven article document entitled "Germantown Academy Student Bill of rights" which attempts to clearly outline the rights that ought to be, if not so already, guaranteed to each member of the upper-school community.

The Bill of Rights will function in conjunction with the Honor Code, should one be passed by our own Student Faculty Advisory Committee and approved by the headmaster. What makes a Bill of Rights so attractive, according to Anders, is that "Whereas the Blue Book mostly states what we can't do, the Bill of Rights will tell students exactly what they can do. It also says what the school can't do to them. I think it's a great idea."

Zeuner and Anders hope to have their Bill of Rights approved in the near future. Moreover they also hope that the students will reach an agreement on an Honor Code shortly to that the Bill of Rights can follow right behind it. Says one student about having a Bill of Rights which would protect her rights as a GA student, "I think it would be cool". Whether the student community will have a Bill of Rights will be determined over the next part of the school year under the jurisdiction of SFAC and its sub-committees. For the moment, students control the destiny of their rights.