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Kerwin, Abramson listen to student concerns
By Jimm Phillips on 11/19/07
AU President Neil Kerwin and Board of Trustees Chairman Gary Abramson listened to students' concerns about a new alcohol transport policy and other campus issues during a town hall meeting Thursday in the Ward Circle Building.
Tim Neal, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, asked whether Abramson and Kerwin would be willing to oppose the policy, which makes a studnt's second medical transport for alcohol-related reasons a violation of the university's Code of Conduct.
"Aside from the numerous concerns within the student body with the dry campus policy, this particular initiative I don't see as doing anything other than discouraging students from receiving medical attention when they need it," Neal said.
Kerwin and Abramson did not indicate their opinions about the policy, but directed the question to Vice President of Campus Life Gail Hanson.
Hanson discussed her office's rationale in implementing the policy.
"One of the things that's happened is that, unlike other years, we're starting to see students transported more than once," she said. "One thought, in past years, that one transport was enough to get people's attention and get them to understand that they're in a serious situation - in some cases, life-threatening."
Thus far, the university has not seen students deliberately avoid seeking medical attention because of the new policy, Hanson said.
"Most of the time, folks don't know who's being transported or how many times - they just know that they've got somebody in their presence ... who is really sick and needs assistance, and they get that assistance," she said. "We've not seen folks take students and take them away to their rooms and try to monitor them themselves. That would be really unwise."
If the university does begin to notice students are not seeking medical transports for intoxicated students because of the policy, they may decide to re-evaluate it, Hanson said.
"If we see that there's something in this that has a perverse consequence, we're going to reconsider it," she said. "But right now, it is the policy, and we think it's working for us."
Tim Neal, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, asked whether Abramson and Kerwin would be willing to oppose the policy, which makes a studnt's second medical transport for alcohol-related reasons a violation of the university's Code of Conduct.
"Aside from the numerous concerns within the student body with the dry campus policy, this particular initiative I don't see as doing anything other than discouraging students from receiving medical attention when they need it," Neal said.
Kerwin and Abramson did not indicate their opinions about the policy, but directed the question to Vice President of Campus Life Gail Hanson.
Hanson discussed her office's rationale in implementing the policy.
"One of the things that's happened is that, unlike other years, we're starting to see students transported more than once," she said. "One thought, in past years, that one transport was enough to get people's attention and get them to understand that they're in a serious situation - in some cases, life-threatening."
Thus far, the university has not seen students deliberately avoid seeking medical attention because of the new policy, Hanson said.
"Most of the time, folks don't know who's being transported or how many times - they just know that they've got somebody in their presence ... who is really sick and needs assistance, and they get that assistance," she said. "We've not seen folks take students and take them away to their rooms and try to monitor them themselves. That would be really unwise."
If the university does begin to notice students are not seeking medical transports for intoxicated students because of the policy, they may decide to re-evaluate it, Hanson said.
"If we see that there's something in this that has a perverse consequence, we're going to reconsider it," she said. "But right now, it is the policy, and we think it's working for us."
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