After poring through the Task Force on Substance Abuse Prevention’s lengthy report that was released late Friday night, the Editorial Board applauds the task force on its critical effort.
When presented with the idea of the task force and its members, we admit our original attitude was one of cynicism. We did not believe that the members would be able to make an honest assessment of the culture of SMU and the problems on this campus. However, Ed Board believes the task force did a commendable job analyzing the SMU student body and making recommendations to President Turner.
The task force presented a large number of recommendations in its report (all of which you can find in the news section of The Daily Campus), and there were a few we felt were particularly important to discuss in this section.
Gaining a large amount of publicity in local media outlets and generating conversation among students is the proposal of an on-campus pub. We believe that admission to this proposed establishment would be a sort of rite of passage for upperclassmen, 21 years of age and older. The task force would like to see a greater sense of community at SMU, and we believe that an on-campus pub would be a great place for students to hang out responsibly.
The report suggests that more Friday classes, more homework and more final exams during the scheduled final exam period would increase the importance of academics to students and deter them from using out-of-class time for possibly dangerous activities. This proposition sounds like an effective plan, but when put into practice, we don’t think it will hold much water. Instead we foresee more hungover students stumbling their way to class Friday mornings, or just not showing up at all. Thursday is “college night” all over the country, not just at SMU.
The academic-related proposal that we do feel will increase academic integrity among students is the recommendation to limit the amount of classes that a student can drop throughout their college career. This will force students to take their classes more seriously, rather than dropping their way to becoming a fifth or sixth-year senior.
Finally, the adoption of medical amnesty and good Samaritan policies are crucial in the effort to make students safer and more responsible. Along with the implementation of these two policies, the elimination of violations for passive participation is a smart suggestion. Getting in trouble for being around someone causing trouble isn’t always preventable.
The task force recognizes that none of these changes will happen overnight, but the report offers striking insight into SMU’s culture and its shortcomings.
