Students suffering from alcohol poisoning should not be punished, nor should the students who report their injury. However, alcohol treatment must be required.
By James Riswick
Opinions Editor
The words, university and alcohol are truly synonymous terms. In fact, if it came to direct word association of the word “university,” most would probably think of a crazy college party before classes of higher education. Perhaps this isn’t quite the case at Pepperdine, but this is still a university and the connection still exists.
The fact that Pepperdine has always been a dry campus proves that the powers that be wanted to break this connection in order to comply with the fundamentals of Christian morality. This would no doubt make rich Christian benefactors happy. However, most students do not feel the same way. Afterall, the truth is, if nobody wanted to drink, there wouldn’t be a rule.
Students do want to drink, and that desire is generally followed through. Afterall, rules were meant to be broken. If students disregard the university’s alcohol policy, then they do it knowing full well they are doing so.
Normally, punishment is in order, regardless of whether we all agree with the rule. But what if something goes wrong? Those crazy college parties of “Animal House” fame never show drunk girls being raped or party goers being rushed to the hospital with alcohol poisoning. True, these are rare incidents, but Pepperdine has rightly created a section of the student handbook to address these “what ifs.”
However, despite the university’s best efforts to protect students and maintain the sanctity of its own alcohol policy, there are holes in the new rules.
Currently, if a student is raped while drunk, she will not be disciplined by Pepperdine for alcohol abuse. Is this a loophole that would cater to female students 99.9 percent of the time? Yes. Does it invite unsubstantiated allegations against innocent male students? Perhaps. But the truth of the matter is, if a student is raped while drunk, she has already born indescribable cruel and unusual punishment. Chances are she would never drink again strictly out of fear. A university sanction in this case would be the equivalent of slapping Marie Antoinette on the wrist as she lay on the guillotine.
The same should go for students who get alcohol poisoning. Once again, it was their choice, but unlike the rape situation, there was no other person involved in their injury. This is presumably why only sexual assaults were put as official exemptions in the handbook.
Dean of Student Affairs Dr. Mark Davis has said that in a case of alcohol poisoning, the university will provide medical assistance immediately, but the student may be disciplined at a later date. Also, if the third party who reported the poisoning is also drunk, that person could come under sanction from the university.
This is where the biggest problem lies. If a student is afraid of being punished for being drunk, it is very likely that the student will not report another student’s potentially life-threatening injury. The reporting party should be given immunity from punishment in such cases. Pepperdine can forego at least one alcohol sanction if it means saving one of its student’s lives.
At the same time, the injured student should not be sanctioned either. Like rape, but to a much different extent, the suffering caused by alcohol poisoning is more than enough punishment. However, that student should be required to seek help at either the Pepperdine Student Counseling Center or another alcoholic treatment facility such as Promises Malibu. It’s no different than the idea that says drug addicts should be professionally treated, not jailed.
I understand that the rule isn’t set in stone — not every student who is drunk in these circumstances will be punished. However, creating a blanket exemption is more effective and reassuring than leaving the policy open to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
One such Seaver College student who was featured in last week’s Graphic on the condition of anonymity was hospitalized for alcohol poisoning but was not sanctioned by the university because she entered an alcohol treatment program. If this is going to be the case for every student who finds themselves in this situation, then it should say so in the Student Handbook. As long as it doesn’t, students are discouraged from reporting potentially fatal circumstances. The university must make this situation clear, because if it doesn’t, Pepperdine is putting the lives of its students in jeopardy.
If it wants deathly drunk students to get the help they require, the fear of punishment must not exist for the injured party or the reporting one. Crazy college parties may not be synonymous with the word Pepperdine, but the words caring and compassion are. The university must reinforce this and clarify its alcohol policy.
October 03, 2002