Third-year Clayton Ayers won his appeal to stay in the South Campus Residence Hall (SCRH) Monday, reversing a Housing decision to move him to a single in Maclean.
Ayers will still be on probation for allowing five students to walk through his first-floor Janotta House window in the SCRH last month.
The reversal comes in the wake of widespread student frustration at what supporters claimed was an overly harsh punishment for the infraction.
“I appreciated the opportunity to have a trial,” Ayers said.
Housing administrators declined to comment on the case.
The College students who climbed through the window on October 10 were all put on probation.
Ayers was initially banned from both the SCRH and the South Campus Dining hall, a decision which he immediately appealed.
Students in Ayers’ house signed petitions protesting the decision and organized students campus-wide through Facebook to call attention to the situation. Second-year Student Government representative Sohrab Kohli took up the issue as well, saying he had never seen an issue garner so much student support.
Others saw Ayers’ supporters as attempting to justify a decision that went against housing rules concerning window usage, sign-in policies, and common sense.
I am glad that the university reversed what was an overly-harsh punishment. If the young man had no prior difficulties with housing, then I think the university needs to remember that kids sometimes do stupid things. Now, everyone in the university is aware that this is something not to do. Let’s move on.