Another academic year has begun and the same campus issue continues to dominant our university’s list of concerns: the manner in which the perceived substance abuse problem on our campus is handled. University officials continue to worry for the safety and well-being of their students. Their actions are in response to hospital visits, the sale of illegal drugs on campus, and near death experiences that continue to exist at SMU. Students continue to protest new restrictive policies that they feel are an infringement of student rights. Both sides of the debate are valid and both students and university officials believe in a need for responsibility. The manner in which responsibility is achieved, however, has been the source of fierce debate for now three years.
For those of us who are upperclassmen, questions surrounding increased enforcement and new restrictions such as the Social Registration Policy and the university’s decision to prohibit Thursday night buses for social gatherings are nothing new. We have spent two to three years protesting and debating such restrictions, as we have trained ourselves to react with extreme emotion to words such as AV and social probation. For those of you who are underclassmen or still live on campus, you have probably already witnessed strict and constant enforcement in your dorms and Greek houses. To be fair, however, stricter policies and increased enforcement have been put in place to thwart a problem on our campus. It is the job of SMU officials to keep students safe and no administrator should have to make a phone call to a student’s parents early in the morning explaining that their child is in the hospital or worse, that their child is dead. This has happened too frequently on our campus and stricter policies and enforcement are a result of these incidents.
For the past three years the student body has been steadfast in protesting what we perceive as infringements on our student rights. As your Student Body President, I believe it is not only our right but our responsibility to protest what we feel is wrong. We must also concede that while we must protest what we feel is wrong, voicing concern is not the only thing we must do. We have tried it for three years now and it is obvious that protest alone will not decrease restriction and enforcement, nor will it prevent an early morning phone call to a student’s parents. We have to recognize the university’s reasons for enforcing stricter policies and to lessen these new policies and enforcement, as well as doing our part to prevent those early morning phone calls, we must immerse ourselves in an environment of realistic responsibility.
We must demonstrate to the university that we are capable of handling our own responsibility, that we have the capacity to look out for our fellow students, that we do not need restrictions and increased enforcement. When we show SMU officials that we do not need policies that intrude on our student rights to be responsible, those who run our great university will understand we are capable of our own safety. More importantly, when we move towards realistic responsibility, we will increase the safety of our fellow students.
A way for us to demonstrate our own responsibility, void of overbearing restriction, is to join the Mustangs Who Care program. It is a simple twenty minute program after TIPS training, that teaches students the signs of alcohol poisoning, drug overdose, how to use the Call for Help Program, and how to handle a student in distress. After being trained, students will receive a wristband to be worn out socially so that a student in distress can easily locate them and a student who is trained will be able to properly handle a situation. The program is based on the premise that we are capable of looking out for our fellow students and that we are competent enough to handle our own responsibility.
The program also revolves around the notion of realistic responsibility. It recognizes that if a student is of age and decides to consume, he or she does not have to abstain from having a few fun beverages in order to be responsible. Those who join Mustangs who Care will not pledge to abstain from alcohol when they go out socially, they will merely pledge to be responsible; a small task when considering the vast positive change it will create for SMU.
I urge all of your to join the Mustangs Who Care program. It will send a message to the university that we do not need over enforcement and restrictions because, if I am being fair, our past actions have led the university to believe that restrictive policies are necessary in order for campus safety to exist. More importantly, this program has the potential to save a life and at the end of the day that is its most important element.
Show responsibility, look out for your fellow students, lessen enforcement and restrictions, have the potential to save a life, be a Mustang who cares!
Patrick Kobler is the Student Body President of SMU. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
