Tufts' Alcohol Task Force on Wednesday submitted a proposal to a university-wide steering committee to introduce a Good Samaritan policy and a modified medical amnesty policy in response to suggestions provided by the steering committee.
Former Tufts Community Union Senate President Wyatt Cadley, a senior, explained that the steering committee brought these policies to the attention of the task force to ensure that students have full incentive to seek medical attention in the case of intoxication.
Cadley, who serves on both the task force and steering committee, said the steering committee charges the task force, composed of students, faculty and staff, with creating recommendations concerning changes to alcohol policy. The steering committee then reviews the task force's proposals.
Director of Alcohol and Health Education Ian Wong, also a member of the task force, said that the proposal is currently under the review by the steering committee. If the members agree to adopt it, he said, new policies could go into effect as soon as next semester.
Wong added that the policies listed in the new proposal are not drastically different from those that already exist in the university's current alcohol policy.
Students who call in emergency support for dangerously intoxicated friends are not typically punished unless intoxication has led to other forms of misconduct, according to Wong.
"You may go on to [Disciplinary Probation II] after calling in, but maybe not because you were caught drinking, but because of the actions you did when you were caught drinking," he said.
Beth Farrow, health educator and prevention specialist, said that in the past Tufts has tacitly enforced a Good Samaritan policy, but this proposal seeks to formally communicate that Tufts has adopted the policy in full.
"We're putting our practice in line with our policy because students have asked for clarification," she said.
Cadley hopes that a clarified policy will encourage more responsible behavior among students by making them less afraid of receiving punishment for helping students in need.
"Policies inherently send messages to people and let you know what sort of behavior is incentivized," he said. "The most important part of [the policy] is that we want you calling in for a friend if they're too sick."
The modified medical amnesty policy proposed by the task force would not put students requiring medical attention on probation right away, but instead would allow students to have two warning, or intervention, levels, Wong said.
Wong added that these intervention levels focus on educating students and should not be thought of as penalties.
"It's understandable that someone transported to the hospital for alcohol consumption does need some sort of help," he said. "So really what we want to do is have people understand that we are trying to make big strides in helping the student get better."
If a student is medically transported for alcohol consumption more than two times, however, they will automatically be placed on Disciplinary Probation II, according to Wong.
The task force hopes that, along with the proposal, there will be a campaign to educate students about the policies so that they can become comfortable and familiar with them, according to Wong. He hopes to work closely with Resident Assistants, Tufts University Police Department and Judicial Affairs to make this possible.
Cadley believes the proposal released by the task force is a step in the right direction.
"I think a lot of good work was done," he said. "I think there is a pretty strong rationale behind the policies."
