Recent AU administration attempts to communicate the university's alcohol policies are admirable but are in no way sufficient.
The Student Advocacy Center hosted several administrators from various AU offices Tuesday in an attempt to address the issues. According to reports from the event, attendance was sparse. And why wouldn't it be? With the end of semester work-load confining most students to their dorm rooms or the library, alcohol policy reform isn't on most people's immediate to-do list.
AU needs to move past small forums that only a limited people will attend to a more comprehensive way of information dissemination. The Student Handbook and Academic Planner, given to the students at the beginning of the year, doesn't address the alcohol policy until well past 100 pages - and even then, the policy is cloaked in the usual legalese that makes even the most straightforward concept complicated.
Policies that are important to many students, such as the alcohol transport policy, are still ambiguous at best. At what point are students so drunk that they need to be sent to the hospital? If a student refuses transport, will his wishes be honored? The Student Handbook does not specifically address these issues.
There is so much hearsay and rumor on campus that when students are in a position where a friend may need medical assistance, they could be dissuaded from calling for help. The AU administration needs to synthesize and condense the pages and pages written on alcohol policy and give AU students the important points they need to know.
If you call the desk receptionist to send your friend to the hospital and you are drunk as well, or are around alcohol, will you get in trouble?
What level of intoxication warrants a transport?
Do you get in trouble if you need to be transported?
These are a few of the important questions that every student needs to have answered clearly. Some bathrooms in the residence halls have signs in easy-to-read places that give students a few important pointers. The Office of Campus Life could produce a poster that is shown prominently in all residence hall bathrooms or in other easy-to-notice places.
Students are required to process so much information each day - e-mails from multiple different offices of AU, bulletin boards crowded with too many posters to read, most of which are already outdated - that important information often gets lost in the mix.
A simple, well-planned information campaign could clarify the questions of many students and stop the rumors that confuse everyone.
