Thank you for the welcome! I hope you are right. I believe that there is also an appeals process that happens (or can happen, at least) after the hearing. I think that some are confused as to whether a hearing has even taken place yet. Once a decision to expel is cast down and made public, that creates a black mark on the individuals reputation that is hard to expunge. I would like to think that there is some leeway to handle each situation uniquely when handing down punishment, but you may be right that there are set protocols. I think that the honor committee procedures are often times fluid at Notre Dame, at least over different decades.
Obviously the ideal manner to resolve the issue is if there were some way to keep the individuals in question anonymous to the press until a final verdict is reached, but that isn't possible in this case because of how involved the media is, the fact that the players would miss games, and the fact that the NCAA could punish ND if the situation is not handled correctly. If all five players are found to be innocent, then my post is off point, but I believe that they all had unclean hands to some extent.