Are speakers sensitive to static charges?

What can we do regarding charges of marijuana possession/failure to open the door in a university dorm?

• Hello, My roommate and I are university students living on campus in Colorado, and at the beginning of March, campus security guards began knocking on our dorm room door around 11:30 PM because the smell of marijuana was emitting from our room. I do not smoke, but my roommate does frequently. I was lying in my bed going to sleep when the knocking began, and did not/do not wish to get my roommate in trouble, so we both remained completely silent throughout the knocking. The lights were off, too. We were both sent letters and called into separate meetings a few weeks later to determine our guilt regarding the charges (smoking/possessing marijuana in the dorms, failure to open the door, etc.). Both my roommate and I maintained that we were not in the room and heard no knocking, citing that our dorm hallway frequently smells of marijuana smoke anyway. Because it was our first time being implicated of marijuana possession in the dorms and because they didn't hear any noise in our room, etc, in addition to our claims of not being present, we were found innocent. Last week, I was on my computer doing some school work with headphones on while my roommate and his friend were hanging out and smoking (weed) in our dorm room. At about 11:30PM, I thought I heard knocking (could not hear clearly with my headphones on) so I took my headphones off and asked if someone knocked, after which my roommate and his friend motioned for me to be silent, which I did. They were watching something on Netflix, which was playing while they knocked, and the lights were on. Apparently (I did not hear this, I put my headphones back on and went back to work during the knocking) the university police (who are real police officers) came and started knocking and announced their presence. They most likely came because they heard my voice inside the room. Anyway, we were fortunate that they did not card into our room, which they could have done. My roommate and I were again sent letters summoning us to separate meetings (mine the first of the two, again), this time not with a member of the university board of conduct but with out dorm hall director. She told me informed me of everything that my roommate and I are being charged of, etc., and I denied any knowledge of the situation. I said that my roommate does not smoke weed, that I don't smoke weed (which I don't,), that I was watching a with a friend in another dorm the night of the incident, etc. She basically told me during the meeting that both my roommate and I will be charged with failure to open the door, and the marijuana charges, should one of us not come clean. She also did have on the official report that one of the security guards/officers heard someone in the room ask if someone knocked. I did not see the rest of the report. Anyway, I denied everything and claimed no knowledge of the situation. My roommate's meeting is on Friday and he plans to deny any knowledge of the situation as well. Should the dorm hall director mention Netflix being on, my roommate will just say that we frequently leave it running anyway, and that when they allegedly heard someone within the room speak, that this came out of the speakers. My question is, since all of the evidence against us is anecdotal (they claimed to have smelled marijuana emanating from my dorm room, and alleged to have heard us speak, and saw that the lights were on), do they have enough evidence to actually charge us? What will happen if both my roommate and I continue to deny and appeal all charges throughout the whole process on the grounds that they have no real proof that we were in the room when the campus security/police knocked? Besides the obvious route of my roommate admitting to smoking and being in the room, after which he will be in trouble not only for that but also failure to open the door, what are some courses of action that my roommate and I can take so that we both are found innocent in the end? (Remember, the dorm hall director told me that we will both be charged if one of us does not come clean, possibly just a method of intimidation) Thank you, Anonymous

• Answer:

  University internal discipline procedures are not governed by the standards used in actual courts. A private school, especially, is not required to do business with you at all and can expell you without cause. A public school probably has some requirement of notice and the opportunity to be heard, but that is about all. No one is required to believe your lies.