Two of the three students accused of assault and disorderly conduct have been found not guilty in the criminal proceedings against them.

They had been facing charges stemming from an incident on Oct. 2 in which Marycrest cafeteria worker Natasha Mayo said they threw rocks at her and used racial slurs against her.

The three are 18 years old. Two live in Marycrest and one in Founders.

In a discussion Oct. 2 with UD police, two of the students denied the charges.

The story the students tell is different from Mayo's account.

In her story, Mayo said the three men were throwing rocks at a van outside Marycrest, then attacked her with rocks after she approached them.

Two students, however, claim they did not see Mayo that morning.

The three students left the building early Oct. 2, they said, to go to the United Dairy Farmers convenience store at the corner of Brown and Stewart streets.

'We were just throwing a couple rocks down Stewart Street' at nothing in particular, one student said.

One walked about 20 yards ahead of the other two, an unnamed student said. He was accompanied by a friend who does not attend UD.

Students said they did not see Mayo during this trip.

The three arrived at UDF, but one left before the other two. After his departure, UD Public Safety officer Foreman arrived, having just departed Mayo at Marycrest.

Mayo later positively identified them as two of her attackers.

According to one student, the two did not realize Mayo was there.

'We never even saw her,' he said.

At that time, the two at UDF were cited for disorderly behavior, assault, and a bias incident.

The third student received an e-mail later that asked him to appear at Benisek Hall.

Once there, an officer showed him stills taken from video surveillance footage that depicted him leaving Marycrest with the other two students.

It was on this evidence, and not identification from Mayo, that led to his citation.

Along with charges at UD, which are settled with a hearing, the students face criminal charges.

Two of the three have already had their days in court, the third said.

'They've told me they have been found not guilty on all charges,' he said.

He is still awaiting his court date and insists he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

'I had no involvement,' he said.

One said he is upset that, as far as he knows, Mayo was never consulted about his guilt or innocence until his UD hearing.

At that hearing, the student was shocked at the procedure, he said.

He was most upset by the jury deliberating his guilt and innocence, which consisted of four of his peers.

'That just blows me away that they even try to do that,' he said. 'Someone older, with more experience, should be involved.'

The hearing took only 45 minutes, and the deliberation was very brief, he said. He was surprised that his peers had such power over his academic standing.

The resulting suspension, a Level 3 suspension, bars the student 'from all University activities, events, services, facilities, and grounds for a specific period and/or until a specific condition is met,' the student handbook standards of behavior says.

What was ignored in the hearing, this student said, was the fact Mayo never positively identified him until the hearing itself, where the circumstance might lead her to agree that he was one of the assailants when he was not.

Mayo's description of him has changed several times, he said.

In the original description, provided in the police report, the three students are described in some detail.

'One had on a red shirt, jeans with a black hat and blue and white shoes, one had on a blue t-shirt with jeans, and the last one had on a white dress shirt with blue stripes and jeans,' the report states.

Later, it describes two of the suspects as they appeared when apprehended at UDF.

'[One] was wearing a white t-shirt, blue jeans and a blue baseball hat. [Another] was wearing a red long sleeve shirt, blue jeans, black baseball hat and blue and white sandles [sic],' the report says.

The clothing that the student said he was wearing that morning included a white baseball cap, not mentioned in the incident report, and a green shirt with a small checkered pattern.

This also does not match with the description that the student says Mayo gave at the UD hearing.

He said Mayo said he was wearing a pink shirt, and did not mention his cap.

One student expressed frustration that Mayo's version of events was accepted so readily.

'She has the right to say whatever she wants to say,' he said, 'But how can they just make those assumptions when they don't know the whole truth'?

'The way it was set up was reverse discrimination,' the student stated.

He said he felt that one black woman's word was trusted over three white men's.

The student said he could understand why the community reacted the way it did.

'I'm supportive of a diverse community. I hope it could be more diverse,' he said.

Another echoed this sentiment. 'Diversity is what a campus needs,' he said.

'I can understand the reactions people had,' he added. 'The reaction was totally legit.'

'I don't think it's fair to jump to conclusions.'

'I would be the first person to stop it if I saw something like this going on,' he said.

'People can think what they want, but I know I had no involvement,' he added.