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The Associated Press
June 3, 2007
The University of Mississippi will use orientation classes this month for new students to introduce the campus' alcohol policy and the consequences of not following it.
The primer was previewed this past week at a fall freshman orientation. Students were presented with the policy in small group sessions and talks from Ole Miss officials.
Incoming students are also to take the first session of the online AlcoholEdu course, a new campus-wide requirement, during the summer before they arrive on campus.
The Ole Miss policy "is not trying to catch students and penalize students, but rather trying to educate our students on making healthy choices," said Donna Gurley, associate university attorney. "It's about keeping them from committing violations where they're going to be penalized."
The "two-strike" academic policy was adopted in the spring and put in place last October. It provides for the suspension of any student - or student organization - found guilty of two alcohol or drug rules violations. Violations include DUI, public drunkenness, minor in possession and breaking UM's alcohol and drug policies or state laws.
The message to students includes how alcohol abuse can affect their grades, their social lives and even their ability to remain on campus as a student, Gurley said.
The Mississippi chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving has asked Ole Miss Chancellor Robert Khayat to toughen the policy. Among MADD's recommendations is to make university charges mandatory in the case of off-campus convictions on drug and alcohol charges.
"It is MADD's position that university charges should result from such a conviction," the organization said.
MADD also wants to see other offenses - like using a false ID to buy alcohol or refusing to tell where it was bought or given away - listed specifically under the policy.
Gurley said the policy was designed to allow some room for discretion on the part of the University Judicial Council.
"The alcohol policy covers a wide range of behaviors. If a behavior is endangering other students or university property or the student himself, that is a different kind of violation than an underage person having alcohol in their dorm or car.
"All those things need to be punished. But if you take away all discretion, you can end up with some results that don't make good commonsense," she said in a http://www.oxfordeagle.com article.
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