Media outlets have been denied access to the results of an internal investigation regarding 11 UTM students involved in the Aug. 22 fights in the UC.

Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Katie High said in an interview with the Jackson Sun last week that the 11-page report she received Sept. 18 on the internal investigation by the student conduct office is confidential. High was quoted as having consulted with UTM Chancellor Nick Dunagan and legal counsel in Knoxville before making her statement. She confirmed in a telephone interview with The Pacer yesterday that UT system attorneys have advised that the report should remain confidential.

UTM’s student conduct officer, Vishenia Huery, investigated whether the school should discipline the students and wrote the final report making a recommendation, High said.

A new Tennessee law requires that the results of disciplinary proceedings against any student accused of a violent crime or sex offense is to be released. Formerly, this information was protected under the Buckley Amendment, the same law that protects students’ grades.

High was quoted in the Jackson Sun as saying, “We did not uncover any additional information that would cause us to charge any of the students with a violent crime.” High also said that the students were charged with disorderly conduct, which UT attorneys argue is not considered a violent crime, and that other students, not the university, brought the assault charges.

The university’s position on not having to disclose the results of the investigation because no “violent” charges were made may contradict the Tennessee Public Records Act, which provides that disclosure is warranted against a student who is an “alleged perpetrator of a crime of violence, as defined in 18 United States Code 16, or a nonforcible sex offense.” According to this, a student only has to be an alleged perpetrator of a violent crime, not charged or convicted of one.

According to 18 United States Code 16, a crime of violence is “an offense that has an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another; or any other offense that is a felony and that, by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense.”

This is the first time UTM has dealt with the new law, which went into effect earlier this year.

Fights at the UC broke out at a Delta Sigma Theta sorority party. Fifteen people, including three former students and a former student’s brother, were arrested. Charges were brought against these individuals in General Sessions Court last Wednesday. Most of the men charged were associated with the Phi Beta Sigma and Omega Psi Phi fraternities.