RHS, OCL EMPHASIZE CONSISTENCY IN POLICY

"The changes in substance sanctions this year come as one piece of
the administration's overall effort to improve substance policy and
enforcement. The Office of Campus Life is currently trying to keep
enforcement consistent, reduce drug use, and gather data about rule
infractions. So far this year, there has been one marijuana violation
and three drinking game violations--all from South Campus.

"At least where we sit today, we're comfortable with where the
policies are now. We would like to remain consistent with enforcement
policy," said Dean of Campus Life Ric Townes.

Townes referenced several past inconsistencies with policy, including
the discrepancy between enforcement on North and South campus. "I
don't think a person on South Campus caught doing something should be
different from something someone has done on North campus," he said.

He also cited inconsistencies among individual RAs. "I've had people
who have been caught and they said that last year the RA wouldn't
have reported the same behavior--what happened?" he said. "I
understand why a student would be upset. I don't think it is fair
that behavior depends on which RA it was."

Currently, enforcement is agreed upon by on-call Deans and passed on
to RAs during training. However, there are no set guidelines for
enforcement in specific situations. RAs are grouped within zones and
supervised by a Dean who has a degree of autonomy in determining
appropriate enforcement.

Beginning last year, the Office of Campus Life started compiling data
on the number and type of substance policy violations that have
occurred. Previously, no such statistics existed.

Townes said that he was surprised when he first started the job to
see that the college had no data on substance violations. "I think it
is better to have data to support things so that you're not
developing policy with anecdotal information," he said.

An agenda to reduce drug use came about when the results of a "Report
of the Committee for Investigating Alcohol Culture at Pomona,"
published two years ago, reinforced information the administration
received through students. The report indicated that while nationally
Pomona was average in drug use, drug use was more prevalent at Pomona
than compared to the other 4Cs.

Given this information, the Student Advisory Committee looked into
the substance policies of comparable liberal arts colleges across the
nation. The committee used aspects of Wellesley College's policies as
the framework for the current policy.

While polls conducted by The Student Life indicate that almost
one-third of the student population finds the substance policy
changes to be unfair, these sentiments exist largely within personal
circles and not in public. A total of three students showed up at the
two information sessions held by Townes last week.

"People are lazy. People like to complain more than they like to take
action," said Joshua Chansard '09 of the poor showing.

Miguel Montoya '08, the RA in Lyon, said, "They're shy about asking a
question that will out them. There's a stigma to it."

Montoya attributed much of the student adversity toward the policy to
a lack of information and an insular attitude. "A lot of students
have complained about it, but they're complaining out of not really
knowing what's going on," he said, emphasizing that the only changes
have been for sanctions, not enforcements.

Montoya also pointed out that most other college campuses would never
recognize a red cup policy and that Pomona's policies are relatively
accommodating for students. "The school goes out of its way to make
this a safe environment. People get spoiled and lose sight," he said.

Some students feel that these changes would have little to no impact
on the drug and alcohol culture on campus, saying that the lack of
proper enforcement renders the threat of stricter sanctions null.

"The enforcement isn't changing, they're just making the punishment
harsher. The effort they put into catching people is not very much at
all. There isn't going to be a visible difference," said Joseph Frewer '10.

Ben Carson '07 echoed those sentiments from the viewpoint of an
administration trying to reduce drug use. "I don't think it's going
be very effective. I think drug policy is loosely enforced. A lot of
RAs, if not most of them, just ignore enforcement in drug policy," he said.

Townes attributed these student views to inconsistencies in
enforcement, adding that the administration had no intention of
creating policies that are not enforced. He explained that the
guideline for enforcement has always been to enforce what the Student
Advisory Committee has set forth as policy.

"It starts with an awareness that it's inconsistent, and we move to
RA training where we make expectations clear," said Townes of the
efforts toward consistent enforcement. "A nod and a wink is not what
the intentions are."