A private appeal hearing will be held Nov. 11 for the former HillTV members arguing against the disbandment of the former station.

Three tenured faculty members will hear the case from both sides, the HillTV members and the Syracuse University administration, and decide whether or not to overturn Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s decision to revoke the station’s status as a student organization.

Although the faculty members have been chosen, their identities will not be revealed until after their decision some time next week, said Kevin Morrow, director of SU News Services.

A member of Cantor’s cabinet, whose identity will not be revealed until after the hearing, will represent the SU administration while two former members of HillTV will represent their organization, Morrow said.

Each side will also be allowed a ‘procedural adviser’ who may offer counsel, but not take an active role in the hearing, Morrow said. Cantor’s cabinet member will have the option to have a lawyer from Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC, SU’s legal counsel, present at the hearing.

Morrow said he was not sure if Cantor’s cabinet member will take advantage of the right to an adviser.

HillTV members will take counsel from David Cole, an attorney with Foley Hoag LLP, based out of Boston. Cole said he took the case pro bono after he was put into contact with Rich Levy, the former general manager of the station.

‘I think that HillTV has some very strong arguments,’ Cole said. ‘Hopefully they will be given a fair hearing.’

Cole said he does not know which members from HillTV will represent the organization.

The hearing will not be open to the public, Morrow said, but a written statement will be released by the three faculty members after they make their decision.

Cole said neither he nor the former HillTV members were told who the three faculty members were and did not expect to find out until the day of the hearing.

Both sides will also have the right to call witnesses to add to their case, Morrow said, and Cantor may be called by her cabinet member, but she will otherwise not be present at the hearing.

Cole said he doesn’t know which witnesses the representatives from HillTV will call, but they are currently in the middle of preparing their arguments.

‘I think that the days following The D.O.’s article, emotions were running pretty high on campus and the chancellor got swept up in the events,’ Cole said. ‘I think some procedures weren’t followed that should have been.’

Published on November 7, 2005 at 12:00 pm