POLICY SHIFTS (SLIGHTLY) ON POT

Stacia Cosner, a university senator and head of Students for a
Sensible Drug Policy, she has spent two years struggling to see
marijuana users treated less like violent criminals by the university.

Now, Resident Life's administrators have, perhaps half-heartedly,
relented. The department's associate director, Steven Petkas said
Resident Life will give more leeway to community directors to decide
punishment for students evicted from housing because of drug violations.

The fight's not over, but Cosner feels vindicated.

"They're punished by the school, the state and the county," said
Cosner. "If I can take away one of those, or lessen the impact, I've
done my part."

The old policies specifically denied leeway for community directors to
decide punishment when dealing with students who were found using
illegal drugs, said Resident Life's salary director Keira Martone, who
researched changing the policy. Now, directors are allowed to decide
the punishment if students are caught with marijuana, though not other
illegal drugs.

If a student is found to have used the drug, a community director can
reduce the minimum of one year suspension from housing to a semester.
If a student is cited with possession of marijuana, a director can cut
punishment completely, said Martone.

But Resident Life won't guarantee anything in writing. the department
has not changed the classification that separates offenses like
marijuana use from more lightly-punished infractions such as underage
drinking.

Nevertheless, the policy revision is a change of heart for Resident
Life, which announced in May that it would not implement
recommendations from the two largest student organizations to reduce
marijuana penalties. The Residence Halls Association and the Student
Government Association both asked Resident Life to reduce the
classification from level A, which includes crimes such as rape,
fighting or destroying university property, to level B, which includes
possession of alcoholic beverages by a minor and keeping a pet in a
dorm.

Resident Life officials said they would not alter the classification
after months of talks with student organizations pushing for a change.

Petkas said his office didn't want to approve the resolution because
he saw alcohol violations and illegal drug violations as fundamentally
different.

Cosner said she continued to lobby for any sort of leeway and Resident
Life eventually gave in, promising the informal policy change. It
remains to be seen whether the policy change will actually relieve
penalties for marijuana smokers.

"We decided [the formal reduction] wasn't in the best interest of
behavior management with students," said Petkas. "There is a legal
difference. Everyone will be able to buy alcohol when they turn 21.
Not so with marijuana."

Petkas also stressed the dangers of unregulated drugs sold in an
underground economy.

While she is pleased with the compromise, Cosner said she is not
satisfied and wants the actual wording in Resident Life's policies
changed.

Cosner said those policies leave students who use drugs afraid to
approach emergency services in cases of overdose.

Because of an incident in 1986 when university basketball star Len
Bias died of a cocaine overdose in Washington Hall, the university
made drug policies more stringent. But Cosner argues the incident
should have made the policies more relaxed, so students would feel
more comfortable calling for medical attention.

"We are the school where it happened," she said. "We have to set the
standard."

Cosner says she will to continue the fight this year through her
senate position. Over the summer she was elected to the student
conduct committee, which was responsible for developing a stricter
riot policy last year.

While Cosner said Resident Life has been receptive and at least
considered changes, she said law enforcement officials had not been as
forthcoming. She said she would want to see police prioritize what
laws they enforce.

"[Police Chief Ken Krouse] gave me the usual lip service," Cosner
said. "I think he had his mind made up that he wasn't going to change
his opinion."

Paul Dillon, spokesman for University Police, said it is not up to him
to decide what to enforce.

Dillon said the department weighs marijuana policy differently from
other infractions because of the illegal drug's ties to addiction,
it's perceived role as a "gateway drug" and instances of drug related
robberies.