Our Opinon -- A resolution

DRUG TESTING AT EMORY TAKES A NEW TURN

Last week, the contentious issue of pre-employment drug testing here at
Emory was put to rest. In a unanimous vote, the University Senate passed a
resolution curtailing Emory's year-old drug testing policy, revising its
scope to include only "safety-sensitive jobs." These positions include, but
are not limited to, operators of heavy equipment, drivers of university
vehicles, campus security agents and health care professionals.

In March of 2002, the administration of former University President William
M. Chace surprised the campus by announcing that Emory would become one of
three universities in the nation to require all potential staff employees
to submit a "successful" urinalysis. The policy was a public relations
fiasco, sparking an uproar from the Employee Council, the Carter Center and
an overwhelming majority of students.

Part of the problem that precipitated such a strong response from the Emory
community was the behind-closed-doors manner in which Chace enacted the
policy. The administration bypassed both the University Senate and the
Employee Council and simply informed both groups that Emory would now test
every staff applicant for drug use, evidently with no concern for any
collaborative input. In political terms, this is known as a slight. In
academic terms, it's known as monological. To students, it just seems crazy.

When University President James W. Wagner arrived two months ago, he
strongly indicated that he wanted to honor the decisions of his
predecessor, but would rely more heavily on the Senate for guidance on the
question of pre-employment drug testing. Determined not to construe the
impending policy change as an out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new scenario,
Wagner's political conscience has wisely compelled him to let the Senate
draft a new recommendation that will make all parties content, instead of
taking matters into his own hands and simply dictating a new policy.

Last semester, the Senate passed a recommendation that proposed two changes
to the drug testing policy. The first is mirrored by last week's
recommendation, in which drug testing is resigned to "safety-sensitive
jobs." The second proposed change was legally problematic. It permitted
individual departments to choose whether to require pre-employment drug
testing, allowing for a hypothetical situation in which the College
requires a urinalysis for its staffers while the Facilities Management
Division does not. When the recommendation was passed and presented to
Chace, he apparently did not collaborate with the Senate to discuss the
potential legal issues raised by a drug testing policy that condones
inter-departmental discrimination. In other words, where Chace had failed
to communicate his ideas to the Senate, the Senate failed to communicate
its ideas to Chace, and the result was deadlock.

This time around, things were done differently. Kent Alexander, Emory's
general counsel, and Mike Mandl, Emory's Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer, were kept in the loop as the Senate constructed a new
draft for a drug testing compromise. This time there would be no surprises
from either the president or the Senate, and by the time a recommendation
was passed, the president was ready and waiting to accept it.

Thanks to improved communication between the president and the Senate, the
general expectation is that a new drug testing policy will be implemented
by the start of the new school year. The compromise represents both a
victory for civil rights at Emory and the first sizable political victory
for Wagner, who played his cards perfectly in defusing the political
timebomb left by his predecessor.

The story of Emory's pre-employment drug testing policy has finally reached
its conclusion, and we consider it a happy ending.