If Matthew Hajek had to guess what would happen to him if he were caught drinking alcohol at Boston University, he would not be able to give a definitive answer.’
‘I’d say you usually get a citation of some sort and I guess a warning. Sort of? Probation? I guess it depends on the severity? I don’t know. I would do very bad on that quiz,’ Hajek, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman, said.
A lot of other BU students may have similar trouble answering the same question because although BU has a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy in regard to underage drinking, punishments often vary. Hajek said he knew of someone caught drinking alcohol in a West Campus dorm who was ‘just put on probation of some sort.”
Hajek’s uncertainty regarding alcohol abuse consequences represents a problem that BU administrators have recognized. BU Student Union President Matt Seidel said after meeting yesterday morning with a subcommittee of the University Council, a council of BU faculty and administrators that recommend action on university issues, it is clear administrators realize they need to be more transparent about the school’s disciplinary actions involving alcohol.
At the University Council Committee on Student Life and Policies meeting, a committee chaired by Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore, Seidel, a CAS junior, pushed the Union’s medical amnesty proposal that would create ‘A Right to Invoke Medical Amnesty’ form.
The form would give students the comfort of knowing that they have the right to appeal judicial sanctions regarding alcohol abuse, Seidel said. It would therefore encourage them to seek medical help rather than do nothing to avoid discipline from the university if they or their friend consumed too much alcohol on a given night.
Although BU is not close to adopting any sort of ‘good Samaritan’ policy ‘- which are in place at more than 90 schools nationwide, including Emerson College, which announced its policy this month ‘- Seidel said he got the sense on Wednesday that administrators understand they need to be clearer about their own policy.
‘There was no opposition to the fact that what’s being put out to students as far as what really goes on isn’t exactly the truth,’ Seidel said. ‘I’m completely certain that the way they are presenting information is going to change.” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘
In an interview earlier this semester, Elmore ‘- who could not be reached for this story despite phone messages left at his office and home earlier this week ‘- said BU evaluates students who consume too much alcohol on a case-by-case basis.’ ‘
‘[Zero-tolerance] doesn’t mean that we kick everybody out of school,’ Elmore said. ‘It means that we address it and sometimes addressing it means educational programs, requiring people to get therapeutic help if need be, and, in other cases, it might be disciplinary sanctions.’
Although students may not know precisely what’s in store for them if caught drinking, Hajek said he realizes that BU is not necessarily out to get him.
‘I don’t think they are quite as [severe] as they sound,’ Hajek, who signed the Union’s petition supporting medical amnesty, said.
In the same earlier interview, Elmore said he wants to ensure that students know the truth about BU’s treatment of alcohol abuse so they are willing to make the right choice in an emergency, but he is not sure a medical amnesty policy is the way to make it happen.
Between now and when the committee next meets in late March, Seidel, who holds a seat on the committee, said the goal will be to figure out how to move forward with the treatment of alcohol overuse.’
‘At the next meeting, we are not going to be debating whether or not a change needs to happen,’ Seidel said. ‘We are going to be debating what that change has to be, and I think that’s going to expedite the conversation a lot more.’
But whether or not that leads to an adjustment of the current alcohol policy or even an adoption of a medical amnesty policy is still unknown.
Paula Griffin, Union’s vice president who also holds a seat on the University Council’s Committee on Student Life and Policies, said more conversation, rather than expediting, is in medical amnesty’s future.
‘It will continue to be discussed for a long while, I’m guessing,’ Griffin, a CAS junior, said.
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