Students in alcohol-related emergencies will soon be able to call for help without fear of punitive action on first offense.

The Syracuse University administration will update its alcohol policy to include a new step, which officials hope will be implemented by the end of the semester. Rather than facing probation on first offense of extreme intoxication, a student in need of medical transport would be reprimanded. The reprimanding would include a meeting with the Office of Judicial Affairs to discuss the incident that led to medical assistance, said Thomas Wolfe, senior vice president and dean of student affairs.

The caller at the time of the incident would not be reprimanded, but Judicial Affairs might want to have a conversation with him or her, Wolfe said.

The addition to the codes will be a step toward partial medical amnesty, also known as the Good Samaritan Policy, at SU. Medical amnesty policies aim to protect students from punitive judicial action when calling for help in drug- and alcohol-related emergencies.

‘The decision has been made,’ Wolfe said. ‘We’re moving in that direction.’

Two years ago, Devon Stewart, a 2011 SU alumnus and former president of the university’s chapter of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, proposed the idea of a medical amnesty policy at SU to the administration and Student Association. Since then, they have been working to implement a policy that would reflect his proposal.

Under the current policy, students face probation on first offense of extreme intoxication and potential indefinite suspension on second offense, Wolfe said. Although the exact details for the updated policy are not hashed out yet, officials hope it will be written into the codes by semester’s end, he said.

‘The old policy had the elements of it already,’ Wolfe said, ‘but this codifies it in a very specific way to send a message that we want students to act responsibly with each other and to report these things.’

Stewart introduced the idea of medical amnesty to Chancellor Nancy Cantor in June 2009. He then introduced the idea to SA at a general assembly meeting in February 2010. A month later, SA passed a resolution in support of a medical amnesty policy.

He proposed a policy that would protect students from the current sanctions but require them to attend a risk management meeting on first offense.

‘The whole idea is really getting people to understand their behaviors,’ Stewart said.

The purpose of the medical amnesty policy is to help first-time offenders and prevent future incidents. But repeat offenders who constantly put themselves and others in danger should face the consequences, Stewart said.

Before the administration made a proposal to update the current alcohol policy to include reprimand, Wolfe created a task force within the Division of Student Affairs to research medical amnesty policies across different campuses and look into the university’s current practices, he said.

There are at least 91 universities that have implemented a medical amnesty policy that covers drugs, alcohol or both, according to SSDP’s website. As of 2011, New York became one of five states to ‘grant limited immunity from prosecution for possession of controlled substances for people who seek or obtain medical assistance during an overdose,’ according to the website.

At Cornell University, which has a similar policy to the one Stewart proposed, the number of emergency calls during drug- and alcohol-related emergencies increased after the policy was enacted in 2002, according to a 2006 study in the International Journal of Drug Policy.

But the task force Wolfe created found that these policies do not make a difference statistically, he said. The crucial aspect of the policy is to keep students safe.

‘What we want to do is make sure that the students know that it’s better to report these things so that their peers don’t suffer any more than they have to,’ Wolfe said.

Capt. John Sardino of the Department of Public Safety said the changes to the policy are positive. People will be more likely to call for help and be more proactive in reporting someone who needs medical attention without worrying about getting in trouble, he said.

He said although the policy change would generate more calls for DPS, he does not see this as an issue, and the department should not have a problem keeping up with the calls for service.

‘I see us getting a couple more calls on a weekend, but I don’t think there will be a huge spike in the number of calls we get,’ Sardino said.

During a given weekend, Sardino said there are about five to seven students in need of medical assistance related to alcohol intoxication.

Sardino said he only expects DPS to receive a few more calls than usual because most students already call when someone is in need of medical assistance.

‘Plenty of students called to report friends and students in trouble and didn’t really worry about what was going to happen, and they reported it because it was the right thing to do,’ Sardino said.

Paul Smyth, manager of emergency medical services at SU Ambulance, said SUA may see an increase in calls for help due to the changes.

It is difficult to track alcohol-related ambulance calls, Smyth said, as injuries or altered mental status because of intoxication could be the reason for calling. But there is no way to pinpoint exactly how many calls are made exclusively due to intoxication.

If a high influx of calls were to ensue due to the policy changes, Smyth said it may be difficult for SUA to adapt because it is difficult to change staffing levels for a policy or try to predict how it will affect their call lines. But SUA will do its part to make the policy as successful as possible, he said.

In addition to updating the codes to include reprimand on first offense, SA is also working to raise awareness about overdrinking and underage drinking.

SA began working on the initiative again this semester, said PJ Alampi, chair of the Student Life Committee. He described the updates as both a policy and an educational program that will encourage bystanders to take action and teach students how to be aware of when someone has reached his or her limit.

‘I honestly would like to see the bystander be a lot more secure,’ Alampi said. ‘I think that, honestly, they are someone who gets placed in a difficult situation, and they’re often very afraid to reach out the Department of Public Safety.’

Alampi said he has been reaching out to the Options Program within SU’s Counseling Center to learn more about the steps students have to take after speaking with Judicial Affairs and to understand the policy and where it is headed, he said.

SA will also be working with the Red Watch Band program, which teaches students about the warning signs of alcohol poisoning, and will revamp informational stickers in the bathrooms, Alampi said.

‘Our responsibility beyond the policy is to educate the students on responsible drinking habits,’ he said.

Alampi said he hopes updating the current policy will make a difference, but the outcome of the policy change does not fall back on the administration, he said. Students are responsible for taking action and reaching out for help.

‘If the policy does change, they need to be that active bystander and reach out to the university and say, ‘You know, someone is in danger,” Alampi said.

He also stressed that the policy is not a free pass for students, but an opportunity for them to be careful and understand the university will support and protect them if needed, he said.

Wolfe said he hopes the direction the policy is going will increase safety for students and raise awareness of the effects and dangers of alcohol.

‘My message here is if a student needs a hospital, a student needs a hospital,’ Wolfe said. ‘… This isn’t about a rule. This is about the well-being of our students. Everything we do is about the well-being of our students.’

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Published on February 29, 2012 at 12:00 pm