 "Photo: Courtesy of MCT Campus")
Students drink, and they don’t always do it responsibly.
Students are reminded of this with every “Stay in the green!” poster in their residence hall hallways or the mouse pads in Atkins Library. It is meant to be a positive, influential message, a reminder that the majority of students (two thirds) drink responsibly when they go out.
What does that mean for the remaining third who do not drink responsibly, though, when they’re finished that night?
Appalachian State University (ASU) considered this problem, too, and is beginning to look at it with a concept called “medical amnesty.” Medical amnesty “seeks to remove barriers keeping students from calling for help during alcohol and drug-related emergencies” by providing “the opportunity for caring, non-punitive intervention, according to the SGA proposition,” according to an article in The Appalachian published on Oct. 13.
Essentially, if the policy is passed, ASU students who are granted medical amnesty would not be punished for violating the ASU alcohol and drug policy. According to the ASU Student Government Association (SGA) president, UNC Asheville and N.C. State University are considering similar medical amnesty policies of their own.
ASU’s proposed policy also grabbed the attention of our own SGA.
SGA recently sat down with Christine Davis, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, the Dean of Students Office, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Health Department, the Counseling Center and Housing and Residence Life to research the topic from within their own respective departments.
It would also require the involvement of UNC Charlotte’s Office of Legal Affairs, the Chancellor, and the Vice Chancellor before anything could be put into place.
There are notable potential benefits. Students may be more likely to seek necessary emergency care if the fear of legal action isn’t there. SGA Vice President Jacob Pierce is also personally involved in the discussion.
He said it is “great for students, very beneficial. Why should students be punished for seeking medical attention?”
Christopher McDonald, chairman of the Student Affairs Committee, said, “Right now we are looking into but we haven’t made any headway on it yet.”
McDonald and Adam Eberhart, the Chief Justice of the SGA judicial branch, don’t necessarily think there is a specific certain need for an amnesty policy because the issue is a complicated one.
Northeastern University conducted a two year study on similar programs in other schools. According to Eberhart, the study “basically concluded that one medical amnesty program isn’t a fix all solution and opens up more questions that it answers.”
Some of the possible concerns being considered before a policy can be put into place include who will get the amnesty, where the line on amnesty is drawn, whether a student can obtain it once or as many times as the situation arises and the possible consequences for seeking it out.
One of the ways ASU is looking at that last concern is requiring students who obtain it to attend educational programs, as well as meeting with their dean.
SGA is currently involved with the administration on the possibility. After doing separate research, they hope to come together “to see if it’s even feasible,” said Eberhart.
Eventually, Student Affairs plans to poll the student population. They hope to see what student knowledge is on alcohol-related issues to see if there’s a potential problem on campus with education of these issues or if a policy really does need to be implemented.
The Dean of Students Office already practices amnesty in certain situations at their discretion. Students who have had serious medical emergencies stemming from their use of alcohol underage, for example, have been known to have it granted on a case-by-case basis according to Eberhart.
Eberhart stressed that this is not a policy UNC Charlotte is looking at seeing implemented in the near future.
“I don’t see us doing something like that within a year. It’s a topic that’s big enough that it deserves more research, more study, just because of all the potential questions after,” he said. “It’s a long road if we want to do it right.” He also warned, “Something like this could very easily get pushed aside or get pushed to the back burner.”
However, with the further involvement of necessary parties and further discussion, more insight and progress will be made on the issue.
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