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."
Abramson and Kerwin also discussed issues relating to the board of trustees.
As members of the board become more comfortable with having a student trustee, they will be more willing to consider making the student trustee a voting member in the body, Abramson said.
"This is the first time we've had student trustees, and so far, it's gone really well," he said. "We've had excellent, excellent representatives, and we're very happy with them. They've made a great contribution, and I think that as we get more comfortable with that in the future - it's only been one year so far - but it's something the board might be willing to consider. I can't speak for the entire board, but I don't think we wouldn't be willing to consider the question."
At present, the two faculty trustees and one student trustee that sit on the board are designated as non-voting trustees. The issue of whether to make the student trustee a voting member of the board was one of several concerns then-SG President Ashley Mushnick and other student leaders raised in 2006 while the board was developing a governance reform plan.
