Over break I received an email from Campus Life about an upcoming mandatory judicial hearing. My infraction: Failure to Comply.

For further questions about my “Failure to Comply,” the e-mail suggested I go to the online handbook. I did. Apparently Failure to Comply has something to do with the guidelines and requests set out by Campus Life while performing their jobs; the answer was completely useless.

Unsure of what I had done and frustrated by the utter lack of clarification, I decided to email the person who sent the letter and ask for a meatier charge than Failure to Comply. If I was going to face judicial charges, I at least deserved something more concrete than “failure to comply.”

It was nearly a week before I got a reply, and even then I was not told what the charges were.

I was later told that I could have always just emailed the person presiding over my hearing. However, the e-mail in no way stated or suggested that as an appropriate course of action. Rather than giving students an e-mail address where they can send their concerns or ask someone knowledgeable a question, Campus Life gives a link to a page titled “Judicial Affairs at Guilford College,” a page of generic questions and answers about the Guilford’s judicial policies.

“We sent out 191 e-mails for Health and Safety charges. The same e-mail is sent to every person. It’s not feasible,” said Administrative Coordinator of Campus Life Tanisha Sutton of possibly contacting a person with concerns or questions. “We’re not trying to be sneaky.”

The whole affair, e-mailing students with a vague charge, leaving links instead of an e-mail address or phone number of a real person, while it might not be sneaky, it is extremely informal, impersonal and detached. Formality is achievable without coming across as disengaged, especially at a small school that claims to value community. It’s imperative for Campus Life to reevaluate one of the first steps of the judicial process, how they inform students of a charge.

The administration is here to help us along during our college tenure, and while that does mean keeping us safe, it also means not leaving the student body in the dark with vague charges and a more unclear online handbook.

The most obvious way to go about this is to supplement the link to judicial Q with an e-mail address of someone at campus life. Keep it formal, but put a person at the other end of the e-mail to give guidance, answer questions, and soothe the concerns of high-strung students charged for the first time.