Editorial : SU administration must pick up pace in drafting medical amnesty policy

The Syracuse University administration has finally formed task forces charged with drafting a medical amnesty policy that would allow students who are intoxicated or on drugs to call for medical help without getting in trouble for it.

The university has dragged its heels for two years since a student first called on the administration to look into the policy. The idea eventually roped in the support of Student Association and some officers at the Department of Public Safety. The Office of Student Life and the chancellor must work to put medical amnesty in place as soon as possible, as it would have the immediate potential to save students’ lives.

Profoundly lucky, SU has avoided on-campus alcohol- or drug-related deaths in recent years. Colleges, such as Pennsylvania State University or the State University of New York Geneseo, have seen tragedies in recent years, sparking intense reactions from their administrations. Throughout the past decade, colleges nationwide have tallied hundreds of drug- and alcohol-related deaths.

Drinking, without a doubt, comprises a standard part of SU’s student culture. With so many students drinking — many responsibly but others with the reckless invincibility typical of young people — the administration would be horrified if in the midst of drawing up this policy, a student died as a result of drugs or intoxication.

Often the difference between a highly intoxicated person and a person in serious need of medical attention is indiscernible, especially to their drunken peers.

Sheer fear of punitive action prevents students every weekend from calling medical services for a friend or for themselves. What lesson does SU teach a student who is already intoxicated passed the point of survival? Nothing. But officials at the Office of Student Life would learn they should have brought this policy to the top of its agenda.