anyone else hear of amnesty for drinking on campus?
What do you mean? Whether or not you’ll get into trouble?
It will be different depending on the school as they all have their own rules. For GW, the school police won’t go out LOOKING for underage drinking. If you do it in your/your friends’ dorm and aren’t causing trouble you’ll be fine. If you’re caught walking around campus drunk you’ll get into trouble. If you’re at a party that’s excessively loud and the campus police have to come by, you’ll get into trouble. Trouble, in both of these cases, is typically a note in your student final and probation. If you get caught again, more serious punishments will come.
Again, this depends on campus. Bottom line: if you’re going to drink, plan on staying in one spot and don’t be stupid (which is a challenge if you’re not used to being drunk).
The most common term for it is the good Samaritan policy. This does not mean that you can drink underage. Rather it means that if you’re drinking underage at a party and call 911 for someone, neither the police nor university disciplinary body can punish you for illegally imbibing. This policy was set in place to encourage students to save the lives of others.
Keep in mind that in practice, it’s tough for college police to ticket everyone for underage drinking or being drunk in public. At least at my university, one which is supposedly strict on alcohol, only the most egregious offenders will get cited (eg, they need to be falling down drunk or passed out on the sidewalk before the cops will do anything).
just not so! my daughter was the one sick. she was punished BIG TIME! Had to go to court multiple times, had to go to a probation officer multiple times, had to pay a BIG fine. Had a HUGE hospital bill. I thank g-d that people called to get help for her but she was punished and those that provided the alcohol were never punished, nor the RA/CA’s on the floor. The drinking had been going on for weeks. I don’t think it will happen again for my daughter as she was anti bad behavior in college and now knows what can happen. but what about the others? no warning, no punishment.
college students should not be drinking if they are underage, period. those that provide it should be punished! period. those that get sick and have to go to the hospital get sited and are punished. there is a double standard that must be fixed.
Some schools have good Samaritan policies. Not all do. Personally I believe these policies are incredibly important in reducing risks but it appears that many universities would disagree.
@bialy55 the reality is college students do drink underage. The most important thing is that they and those around them stay safe. If there’s a policy which discourages safe behavior because the students fear punishment I believe such a policy should be amended or replaced.
I support amnesty for all parties. It’s still a problem if the sick kid’s friends have to weigh the odds of him dying against the odds of him getting punished. You hope they’d do the smart thing, but come on – they’re drunk.
UIUC u can be 19 in bars. 80 percent underage college kids drink one time or another. Most college campuses have their own police and won’t ticket under age drinkers at parties but will if in street causing trouble. Maybe your D was off campus, it is up to the discretion of the cop what ticket to get. Many just get underage drinking tickets, pay them and nothing more. Sounds like your D had one bad night, glad she is ok.
It varies from school to school, but the policies on this are often pretty lenient. It’s a fact that college kids often drink. The majority of the time it results in no real harm. However, there can be times that they have to crack down on it if it gets out of hand.