The Boston University Student Union is continuing to work toward the passage of a medical amnesty policy, but miscommunication between past and present Union administrations has resulted in slow progress over six semesters, a recurring issue within the organization, some members said.
The Union has attempted to pass a medical amnesty policy for about six semesters, Campus Safety Committee Chairman Leo Gameng said.’ Such a policy would exempt students from university punishment if they called for help in an alcohol or drug-related emergency, such as alcohol poisoning or sexual assault. The Union’s proposal calls for students to request amnesty if BU pursues disciplinary action after an incident.
Gameng, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, said that despite having worked on the medical amnesty initiative last semester, he has had very little communication with current Medical Amnesty Task Force point woman, Stacy Fontana. He said she has never reached out to him to update herself on the previous semester’s work. He said he spoke to Fontana, a CAS junior and Daily Free Press contributing reporter, for the first time when he contacted her last week.
‘I wanted to be more involved in the project itself, so I put my foot forward, because I was sick and tired of not being contacted,’ Gameng said.
Fontana, who is also in the College of Communication, said she had already finished her own research, which she began anew this semester, when she received a copy of last semester’s drafted proposal and research last week.
‘Unfortunately, I did have to start from scratch,’ Fontana said. ‘I just recently got my hands on what they did last year, but it doesn’t really help me, since I already did all the work they did.’
College of General Studies sophomore Adam Korn said the lack of communication between semesters is common.
‘Everything done last year on medical amnesty was also all brand new,’ Korn, who worked on the initiative last semester and remains involved this semester, said. ‘There was no transition from the previous semester.’
Publicity for the proposal has been more effective this year, however, Gameng said. Members have collected more than 2,000 student and faculty signatures on a petition to support the policy this semester, he said.
When Union President Matt Seidel and Fontana meet with Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore on Nov. 25, they hope to present about 3,000 signatures in support of the policy, Seidel said.
Union members would need to acquire nearly 1,000 signatures within the next week, though it has taken members all semester to earn the 2,000 they currently have.
‘For this meeting, we’re just looking to have a constructive conversation about the issue,’ Seidel said. ‘If we can get the support of the administration, the next step is to get the [Office of the General Counsel] to pass it.’
The Office of the General Counsel provides legal representation and advice to BU clients, and reports to the Office of the President.
Gameng said he has yet to see a policy draft from the task force this semester, and though no one is required to show it to him, he has his doubts about the task force’s progress.
‘I personally think we’re in the same spot as we were last semester,’ Gameng said. ‘The visibility of medical amnesty to the student body has gone farther but, policy-wise, I think we’re a little behind.’
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
