Editor’s Note: The Arkansas Traveler does not promote the illegal use of marijuana. This story is meant solely to inform students of a policy change that is pertinent to their life on campus.
The academic penalties for marijuana offenses have been lowered to match the penalties for alcohol offenses beginning this semester, as agreed by the RazorCAT board Aug. 16th, according to the policy. The RazorCAT board, which is headed by several administrative leaders and serves as a campus disciplinary team.
The policy change, which is a result of the Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) campaign, equalizes the penalties for possession and consumption of marijuana and alcohol on campus and is effective as long as the student possesses misdemeanor amounts of marijuana, which is less than one ounce of marijuana.
This policy change occurs after three years of encouragement from the UA chapter of the National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and a referendum passed last April by 67 percent of the student body.
“To have such a large percentage of the students vote for something like this and to actually see a policy change is monumental,” said Rob Pfountz, former president of NORML and a leader in the SAFER campaign. “It’s reinforcing the belief that we actually can change something.”
The UA is the first university in the nation to effectively implement a policy change through the SAFER campaign. While UA is the 13th university to pass SAFER initiatives through their student body by a voting process, no other universities have been able to finalize policy changes through their administrations.
In the past, students who were caught with marijuana or drug paraphernalia on campus were penalized as if they were charged with their first major alcohol violation or second minor alcohol violation, depending on the situation.
Many students charged with their first drug violation had to complete at least 50 hours of community service, were on probation or even suspended for a year and owed the UA hundreds of dollars in fines. Some penalized students lost their scholarships on their first drug offenses.
Though this change in academic policy is significant for students who violate the drug policy, the new policy does not change federal laws or Arkansas state laws.
“If you’re a student on campus and you get caught with marijuana you get your criminal penalties with the city and the state, and then you have your academic penalties with the university, which is totally separate from what happens with criminal law enforcement,” Pfountz said.
“What we passed by the student body was to just equalize the judicial sanctions that the university was applying to students that were caught with marijuana. They still are criminals but the academic penalties are now equalized.”
This policy change was one point of a five-point proposition to RazorCAT to change multiple marijuana policies on campus. Though the other four points were not voted on by students, NORML continues to advocate those other policy changes.
The SAFER initiative, which underscored the proposition, is based on several studies that prove that smoking marijuana is a safe alternative to drinking alcohol, Pfountz said.
The policy change will most affect the actions of students drinking alcohol or consuming marijuana in residence halls and Greek houses on campus.
Since the policy change, Resident Assistants (RAs) have not been retrained to handle situations where they discover students consuming marijuana in the residence halls.
Housing and Office of Community Standards & Student Ethics officials declined to comment on the new policy.
In the past, RAs have been trained to contact the UA Police Department if they discover marijuana in the residence halls.
NORML officers hope to enforce this new policy by keeping in direct communication with students about how the administration carries out the new alcohol and drug guidelines.
“Since we’re not directly involved with judicial court, we’re not privy to how they’re handing the policy unless students volunteer that kind of information to us,” Pfountz said. “We’ve got to get the word out to the student body to let them know that if they feel like the administration is not abiding by the policy to contact us, and we’ll go talk to the administration on their behalf”
NORML officers began pushing legislation through Associated Student Government (ASG) in 2007, but when the ASG Senate voted on the issue, more officers abstained from the ballot than voted yes or no, Pfountz said.
“They were in support of it,” he said, “they just didn’t want people to know they were in support of it.”
In the end, more ASG senators voted against it than for it, so the issue was dropped.
To put the issue on the ASG ballot, NORML members had to collect 1,300 signatures from students. They collected and submitted 1,700 student signatures in March 2009, Pfountz said.
Students voted for the issue on the ASG ballot in April 2009 when they voted for ASG officers.
A higher percentage of students voted to pass the policy change than the winning percentages of any officer on the ballot, Pfountz said.
Though the students voted to pass the policy in April 2009, the policy could not take effect until the administration agreed on it. The administration, has final veto power before policies are passed.
Proponents of the initiative met with Daniel Pugh, vice provost for student Aaffairs, and RazorCAT beginning in April 2009.
“Originally, Daniel Pugh came out very much against us,” Pfountz said. “We had a lot of opponents on the RazorCAT board. After we talked to them, after we gave them our argument, they started to become more sympathetic.”
Last year, NORML provided students with literature that promoted marijuana as being safer than alcohol and informed students and the Fayetteville community that there is a nationwide movement on campuses and communities to legalize marijuana or assign it a lower priority.
A lower-priority initiative on the ballot during the November 2009 election passed with 66 percent of the vote in Fayetteville.
The new policy is as follows:
Level 1: 1st Minor Alcohol
Violation with No Associated Charges or 1st Violation Possessing Misdemeanor Amounts of Marijuana- 15 hours Community Service, $100 to Educational Fund and Alcohol/Drug Education Class
Level 2A: 2nd Minor Alcohol Violation with No Associated Charges, 1st Minor Alcohol Violation with Associated Charges or 2nd Violation Possessing Misdemeanor Amounts of Marijuana- Probation for one year, 50 hours Community Service, $200 to Educational Fund, Participation in Student Assistance Program, Parent notified (under 21), and Suspended parking for one year
Level 2B: 1st Major Alcohol Violation with No Associated Charges- Probation for one year, 50 hours Community Service, $200 to Educational Fund, Alcohol/drug use assessment by a mental health practitioner, Parent notified (under 21), and Suspended parking for one year
Level 3: 3rd Minor Alcohol Violation with No Associated Charges, 2nd Minor Alcohol Violation with Associated Charges, 2nd Major Alcohol Violation with No Associated Charges, 1st Major Alcohol Violation with Associated Charges, or 3rd Violation Possessing Misdemeanor Amounts of Marijuana- One year immediate suspension, 100 hours Community Service, $300 to Educational Fund, Alcohol/drug use assessment by a mental health practitioner, Parent notified (under 21) and Loss of parking privileges
Level 4: 4th Minor Alcohol Violation with No Associated Charges, 3rd Minor Alcohol Violation with Associated Charges, 3rd Major Alcohol Violation with No Associated Charges, 2nd Major Alcohol Violation with Associated Charges or 4th Violation Possessing Misdemeanor Amounts of Marijuana- Indefinite suspension with conditional re-admittance.