Student Life Administration recently approved new drug testing policies and sanctions, setting a hypocritical standard for substance abuse on campus.

A student caught with illegal drugs and sentenced by the judicial board will be subjected to random drug testing. Is the university taking the stance that drugs are the only substances that SMU students abuse? Most would agree that alcohol is more prevalently misused in vast quantities than any other recreational drug. Should the university start implementing random blood alcohol tests to students caught under the influence or who have received alcohol violations in the past? Although being caught drunk is a serious offense, no student would ever be suspended for such actions.

There are other questions surrounding the new policy. Drug tests are not 100 percent accurate and extenuating circumstances may affect the test results. Constitutional rights to privacy concerns should also be examined. Although we attend a private university, the constitution shouldn’t end at Airline Road.

“Other schools, including Wake Forest University, Vanderbilt University, Baylor University and TCU, have adopted the same policy,” Dr. Jim Caswell stated in a press release.

SMU, which presents itself as “the Harvard of the South,” should try being an individual rather than keeping up with the Joneses. If other small private universities that SMU ranks itself with adopted random chastity testing, would SMU jump on board?