New alcohol policy fails to pass

By Megan Heacock

Thursday, November 19, 2009

A proposed policy change that would allow easier access to rooms in student housing failed to pass in the student rights standing committee.

The alcohol subcommittee of the student rights standing committee, designated to discuss and analyze current alcohol policy at the University, submitted arguments for this policy last night. The alcohol subcommittee was charged to examine all policy related to alcohol, which inherently included Student Housing code.

A proposed change to Student Housing policy would have allowed senior staff members in Student Housing to have easier access to private rooms if they had suspected policy violation.

Members opposed to the policy had concerns with its effectiveness in combatting alcohol abuse. One major concern was that this policy would infringe upon a student’s right to privacy. Devon Cantwell, executive secretary of Student Senate, said another issue with the policy was its lack of effectiveness in combating alcohol abuse.

“I don’t think we, as responsible student senators, can endorse this policy as something that’s going to lower drinking or lower the toxic levels of drinking,” she said.

Leaders from student housing attended the meeting to defend the proposal. Mathew Shepard, All Scholarship Hall Council president and Norton junior, said the proposed policy would address alcohol abuse by ensuring education on responsible drinking and resources on campus for students who violate the policy.

“It’s about community rights where all of the residents have a right to have a safe, productive community where they can feel at home,” he said. “And if there’s a party going on, the ability to address who’s in that room more quickly and efficiently betters that community as a whole.”

Kylie Luckett, president of the Association of University Residence Halls and Garden City senior, said the policy never would’ve allowed staff members to “barge in.”

“We’re not trying to abuse anyone’s rights or take anyone’s rights away,” she said. “We’re not trying to be big brother. Those aren’t anyone’s intentions and that’s not how the policy would play out.”

The Student Housing Advisory Board, which encompasses all governances of Student Housing, passed this policy change last spring. As part of the Student Code of Rights and Responsibilities, it needed to be approved in the student rights committee before moving to full senate.

Proposing this policy change was held off until this fall. This change was presented to the alcohol subcommittee Oct. 29, and the vote resulted in a tie. Because of this, both favorable and unfavorable sides of the vote — reasons members supported and opposed the change — were presented to the rights committee. Changing the University’s alcohol policy has been proposed twice before, but has never passed the student rights committee. Although it didn’t pass, chairwoman of the alcohol subcommittee Emily Williams said those from Student Housing had given good arguments.

“I think there was substantial debate and I’m glad that we were able to see it in this venue and that we had representation,” she said. “I think it was critical that student housing had the option to come and speak.”

The subcommittee also gave a separate report with recommendations for combating alcohol abuse. There were 11 favorable recommendations on combating alcohol abuse in the report, which were presented to the rights committee. The rights committee voted to pass these recommendations for investigation and implementation by the Office of the Vice Provost for Success.

Favorable recommendations generally included increased funding and advertisement for counseling resources, more educational outreach for responsible drinking, and giving students an “opt in” policy for parental notification, similar to the “opt in” policy for parental access to grades. These recommendations were discussed by the subcommittee and presented to the rights committee as favorable or unfavorable.

Williams said the majority of the recommendations were education- and awareness-based. She said the committee never considered the extremes of banning alcohol or promoting a dry community. Instead, the group explored creative methods of encouraging responsible, moderate drinking, while discouraging alcohol abuse — drinking to the point of blackout.

While presenting recommendations, Williams emphasized that state and federal laws bound Student Senate from proposing or passing certain legislation.

“One of the things we have to recognize is our limited authority. For instance, we can’t lower the drinking age,” Williams said.

Williams said she was very pleased the recommendations for combating alcohol abuse passed the rights committee. The recommendations passed last night will be discussed at the next full senate meeting on Dec. 2.

— Edited by Alicia Banister

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Comments

handy (anonymous) says...

I, for one, am pleased with this, and I am sure many students are glad about it too.

November 19, 2009 at 3:52 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

cdw48 (anonymous) says...

There were many students who supported it, as well.

November 19, 2009 at 4:27 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

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