TIME TO ACT

Today, The Senate Should Vote Against Drug Testing Represents The Majority
Opinion Of The Wheel Editorial Board

This afternoon, the University Senate is poised to vote on Emory's
pre-employment drug testing policy, which requires all potential employees
to pass a urine test before they are cleared for hiring. University
President William M. Chace has strongly hinted that he will follow the
Senate's recommendation, meaning that this vote may be decisive in ending
or ensuring the policy.

There is no longer any question about University sentiment. The students
are mostly opposed, the faculty has been polled as "very concerned" and
four presidential commissions have signed onto the Senate resolution that
calls for revoking the policy. For any policy to be justified in the face
of such clear opposition, its benefits must be undeniably significant.
However, since its inception a year ago, its effect has been to deny
roughly 30 potential employees the right to apply for a job, with the vast
majority testing positive for marijuana.

This is the benefit Emory clings to as it stands as one of three
Universities in the nation with such an invasive standard, one whose
stipulated purpose is to reverse the presumption of innocence for the sake
of weeding out a miniscule percentage of potential rabble-rousers.

If the Senate fails to pass the resolution, which calls for individual
departments to choose if they want to test their staff, or if President
Chace fails to follow its recommendation, then the buck will be passed to a
future administration.But today the Senate has a chance to do its part in
ensuring that this issue is put to rest. It should seize the opportunity
and prove itself as a representative body that takes student and faculty
concerns seriously and, most importantly, isn't afraid to exercise a little
common sense.