One of my foster kids goes to TCU now. She is a great kid and gets full scholarship. She lives in dorm but was studying with a friend at her house and friend suggested that they should use her boyfriend’s weed to take care of anxiety and insomnia. They did and later her friend was driving her to the dorm. Police stopped them for some traffic reason and smelled marijuana, they searched the car, didn’t find anything but reported to TCU. She has a disciplinary committee meeting on Monday. She is scared that they’ll takeaway her scholarship or dorm privileges. She asked me for advice. I have no idea. Anyone with similar experience or any advice.
Lawyer up.
It isn’t a police case. Does she need a lawyer?
And tell her to not do it again!
I think she is scared enough to never go near it.
Someone should go with her to the hearing-a parent or representative of some sort. How as the police able to inform that school. Was the police an employee of the school? Were they stopped on campus property? PS. sorry if this is a duplicate post. I posted this before but don’t see it now.
I’m not sure but I’ll ask her. Thank you.
Shouldnt she face consequences as this is not a criminal case so she gets a lesson to never do it again?
She already is facing consequences. She is probably worried out of her mind. Not good for someone already with anxiety.
Seriously, it’s weed. I’d be furious that someone was driving with an impaired driver but she shouldn’t lose her scholarship or anything over weed. I’d deny, deny, deny.
Yes, I realize we still have draconian laws on the books that makes smoking a plant illegal but it’s definitely not something that she should face serious consequences over. It seems like the college might make a bigger deal out of this than it is which is why I’d deny, deny, deny.
“why I’d deny, deny, deny.” In college, this is not always the best strategy. And that may be especially true in conservative private schools. It does not matter what we think schools should be doing. The situation needs to be thought through carefully.
You should know the school’s rules so you can interpret things in light of the rules. What is the charge that the school is alleging? Is it breaking the code of conduct? If so, read the rules carefully to see if being in a car smelling of pot could be a violation. For instance, are students responsible for avoiding situations that could place them at risk for being charged with a crime or that may lead to misunderstandings. The wording is important because it would be important to clearly understand what the student’s constraints are in terms of denying or admitting. Denying something is not always the best way to proceed since private schools can act as they choose in many instances. So sometimes a “stupid me” approach can garner more sympathy for a better outcome.
If it were one of mine, I’d first find out every detail. i’d want to know where it happened and under what authority was the student stopped. For example, was it by a municipality police or a college police and whether it happened within the officers jurisdiction. If it happened on school property and the officer was an agent for the school, that should be dealt with one way-it means that the school is probably within its rights to proceed with a process. But if it was in the town and the police was an officer of the town, that is a different story. If the officer was an agent of the town government, and if nothing was found on the students, then a) no information should have been conveyed to the school and, in fact, the school should not be able to even interact with the police about the student since they are prohibited from providing information about who attends their school (except selective service constraints). Smelling pot on a student or smelling like pot isn’t illegal anywhere. And if the student was only a passenger in the car then even if some were found, I don’t believe the passenger can be charged. And even so, I don’t think the school can provide information about the student to the police, but I am not sure what information the police can reveal to the school. But given that no pot was found, and therefore no laws were broken, I think there is a genuine question about how the school would come to know about the traffic stop. If so, then I would deal with the municipality and make it clear that if they broke any rules or laws in terms of threatening the student’s future at the school, you intend to proceed legally. Then I’d allow the police dept to make things right for the student with the school.
The deny quote was based on a post that appears to be gone now.
She was stopped by campus police. She wasn’t driving. It’s not her car. She didn’t buy that weed. There was no weed in that car. She is a NMSF with a squeaky clean record. Her only flaw is getting too worried about dropping her grades and loosing her scholarship. First generation college student. Her parents who went back to Mexico when she was 16.
She said that she talked to her mentors at the school and everyone said that school is very fair and balanced with first mistake. They support and monitor good students in every way they can to avoid making another mistake. They say no lawyer is required for first mistake if it’s not a legal issue.
Does she want someone (a family member or friend or you) to accompany her? None of the things I wrote are relevant since it was a campus police on campus.
I live in a family full of attorneys. Just because the police aren’t involved doesn’t mean you don’t need a lawyer. Unless you know exactly what the rules are and exactly what your rights and options are, you could make a mistake and say the wrong thing.
Of course the people making the rules say no lawyer is required-sheesh. Don’t make it easy for them, at least talk to one about the situation. A good lawyer will tell you when you don’t need one.
And tell her to find better friends.
She is meeting a local pro bono lawyer tomorrow.
i would not use the argument that we have draconian laws ant pot is not a bad thing. It’s use IS illegal and that is why really matters.
She could either argue that there is no clear evidence that she had used it. Or admit the truth and volunteer to work with a counselor over her anxiety disorder and inability to resist peer pressure.
She didn’t have any weed on her, it wasn’t in the car, and if she didn’t admit she smoked to the officer she should be fine. Just tell the school they were at a party and there was weed there and they didn’t partake in the activity. The only evidence they had was the smell nothing else that’s not enough evidence unless they admitted anything.
She can lie as there is no evidence but she is a girl of character, she insists on taking responsibility and opt for probation and counseling. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.
Don’t lie.
She went and had a sincere discussion. They were sympathetic and supportive due to her clean record and stellar academics but still want her to follow the consequences so she won’t make similar mistakes again. She is on probation, weekly random drug testing, has to do clinical counseling and community service. She has to pay for drug testing herself so almost all of her earnings from a part time job would go towards that. Surprisingly, she is okay with all that as long as she can keep her scholarships and dorm accommodation. If she does it again then she’ll loose her dorm privileges and free ride.