GROUP WANTS DELAY IN POT PENALTY DECISION

A student group that opposes administrative proposals to stiffen penalties
for marijuana possession on the Ohio University campus for the second time
has asked a university committee to delay its recommendation on the penalties.

OU's Review and Standards Committee had been poised in late November to
vote on recommending the stricter penalties to the OU Board of Trustees,
but delayed its vote after Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)
protested the changes.

At that time, committee member Judy Piercy, director of Judiciaries at OU,
said the committee had decided to wait because "we decided that it really
is important to hear from everybody."

In the interview on Nov. 18, Piercy said the committee would meet on Jan 7
(today) and at that time discuss how to collect more input from interested
parties before making a recommendation to the Board of Trustees.

It's unclear whether the committee intended any sort of vote on the
recommendations at today's meeting. Committee chair Richard Carpinelli,
vice-president for student affairs at OU, could not be reached for comment
on Friday or over the weekend.

Abby Bair, vice president of SSDP, said over the weekend that her group
needs more time to organize a coalition of student groups against the
marijuana amendment, and consequently requested a later meeting with the
Review and Standards Committee.

The group had been invited to join today's meeting in order to present its
petition against making marijuana possession a more serious campus offense,
as well as urging the university to inform students about all the proposed
changes in the Student Code of Conduct. Reportedly, the stricter marijuana
penalty is just one of several proposed changes.

SSDP is attempting to form a coalition of student organizations in order to
become a well-represented and organized front, according to Bair. The group
was unsure whether it would be sufficiently organized to present its case
against the penalties today.

The Review and Standards Committee is in the final stages of revising the
Student Code of Conduct before submitting the proposed code to the vice
president for student affairs, the OU president and the Board of Trustees.
The amendment process began two years ago, according to Piercy.

SSDP learned of the proposed changes to the code fall quarter and organized
a rally against them. "This amendment is going to affect hundreds of
lives," Bair declared at the November rally. "We strongly feel that it is a
student's right to know what is going to be brought down on campus."

Bair said over the weekend that she hopes the committee once again will
delay its vote on the amendments in order to hear from students.

She said that Carpinelli had asked SSDP to speak to the committee to
explain the argument against the marijuana amendment. SSDP also will also
explain what SSDP works towards and ask for representation on the
committee, according to Bair.

Under the marijuana proposal, possession of small amounts of marijuana
(under 100 grams) would become a Class A offense in the Student Code of
Conduct. That would expose student violators to a maximum penalty of
expulsion, through lesser penalties also would be possible. Currently,
possession of marijuana under the bulk amounts is a Class B offense, with a
maximum penalty of disciplinary probation. Students on probation can be
suspended from school up to a year if they have any further violations.