Maybe we should all take a step back with these sorts of statements and chill out on potentially ruining more students' lives.
We don't know who the student was, their background, why they decided the way they did. I doubt any of us here agree with the punishment or the process. But, for all we know, it could be a young, black female who lost a family member in a fight and has zero tolerance for fighting and feels she might be saving Lequint's life by discouraging him from fighting in the future.
The problem lies in the system. No individual student should have that much unchecked power over another student's future. There needs to be a higher degree of oversight. Maybe, there should be a student panel that hears the case and passes a recommendation to the Dean of Students and the appeal goes to a panel of faculty members, including at least one from the law school.
It isn't that student's fault that they were given too much authority or lacks the breadth of experience to fairly adjudicate a case like this.