PANEL URGES UI DRUG-POLICY CHANGE

Members of a UI task force appointed to investigate student arrest and
citation rates say the university needs to take a hard look at its drug
policy in the residence halls, and it urged the school to be more proactive
in teaching students about its policy.

A preliminary analysis of data collected by the Task Force on Undergraduate
Arrest Rates from the Iowa City and UI police, the Department of Education,
the Office of Postsecondary Education, and residence halls shows the UI has
the highest per capita drug-arrest rate in the Big Ten.

The initial findings prompted panel members to suggest that the university
correct variations in the substance policy - which shows a large
discrepancy between how the university deals with the possession of small
amounts of marijuana and small amounts of alcohol.

The task force - composed of three faculty members and three UI students -
said it would like to see the university replace its harsh drug policies,
which can harm students academically and financially, with more judicial
referrals that would require drug-education programs.

Under the university's current drug policy, students caught with possession
of small amounts of marijuana in university residence halls are
incarcerated and stand the chance of being evicted from their rooms - with
little chance of referral for a drug-education program. Drug charges can
also be followed by a potentially permanent cut-off of all financial aid.

However, alcohol possession in the dorms is treated less harshly, said Judy
Polumbaum, an associate professor of journalism and the chairwoman of the
task force. These charges are handled within a residence-hall hierarchy,
and policies give resident assistants discretion on how matters should be
resolved. The alcohol is usually confiscated, and offenders are given a
warning by dorm officials, she said.

"There just has to be a better way," Polumbaum said. "It's not something
that's new, but in my days, the consequences were not so severe. Society
has changed a lot."

In 2001, the UI recorded 123 drug-policy violations and 180 alcohol
violations on campus. However, UI police gave 471 alcohol-related referrals
while only issuing 13 for drug offenses.

"When you arrest someone, you're not going to teach them not to do it
again," said UI junior and task force member Gillian Rosenberg. "That's not
the way it's supposed to work. People are supposed to learn not to do it
again, not learn how not to get caught."

She said the university does a poor job of educating students about drug
policies and needs to teach students about their rights.

"A lot of college students make bad choices," Rosenberg said. "Students
need to know what's going on and how their actions are going to affect them."

UI administrators were leery of commenting on the panel's recommendations
without seeing the group's final report, which will be released in two weeks.

Duane Papke, the associate director of UI police, said he believes the
residence hall's zero-tolerance policy is effective at enforcing the
university's drug laws, but, he said, he would keep an open mind about
instating a referral system for drug charges.

Tom Baker, the UI associate dean of students, declined to comment on
preliminary recommendations and said he was unsure whether the
recommendations would lead to policy change or how it would come about.