Page 4
in marijuana use fails to faze
many students, worries faculty
Rise
While schools deal with alcohol
abuse , they have trouble tackling
marijuana usage
By Lance Williams
The Kentucky Kernel
University of Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky.-Victor
Hazard doesn't need national
statistics to tell him about the
marijuana problem spreading
throughout high schools and
colleges nationwide. He sees it all
the time in the faces of the
growing numbers of students who
have to make the trek to his office
to face the penalties for using
marijuana.
In fact, the number of students
he has dealt with is on pace to
double the previous year's total.
This brings up two big
problems for Hazard, UK's
associate dean of students and the
man who disciplines student drug
users.
First, UK doesn't have a real
program in place to deal with
marijuana abusers.
Second, Hazard’s not sure the
students are receptive to the help.
"Clearly the attitude I'm
dealing with here is 'What's the
big deal?"’ Hazard said.
"They know it's against the
law, but there is a feeling of
nonchalance about it. They have
not had to face the repercussions
in high school and they are just
carrying on that habit."
The Student Government Association holds its weekly meeting every
Wednesday at 5:00 in Reed conference room 114.
Dr. Orris Reber, Dean of Student Affairs, discussed implementation of the
new student activity fee at last night’s SGA meeting. Reber spoke at length
about methods for the $150,000 the fee will bring to Behrend.
In an effort to fill several vacant spots on the senate, President Timothy
Mallon asked SGA members to actively recruit prospective senators.
Elections are tentativley planned for the second Wednesday after Spring
break. The elections committee has discussed reducing application
requirements in hopes of increasing the number of SGA candidates.
Commuter senator Steve Landon took issue with Mallon's appointment of
John Butler to die budget committee due to the 8:4 ratio of Greek to non-
Greek committee members. The budget committee does not fairly represent
the student body, according to Landon. Despite Landon’s objections, a
majority vote placed Butler on the committee.
Public relations committee chairman Mike Woycheck confirmed the Meet
the SGA Forum scheduled for Feburary 6 at noon. SGA members will be
available outside of the Gorge to answer questions and comments.
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Changing for good. It’s free. It’s fast. It works.
In the 1995 fall semester
alone, Hazard dealt with 30
marijuana cases. He had 30 in the
entire 1994-1995 academic year.
The national statistics show
that trend is developing around the
nation as well.
In the 1994 National
Household Survey on Drug
Abuse, the number of twelfth
graders who had used drugs in the
past month was at 19 percent
That represented nearly a doubling
of that number since 1992.
The numbers are rising just as
fast for tenth- and eighth-graders.
Another survey, sponsored by
the National Parents' Resource
Institute for Drug Education,
showed that one in three teenagers
had smoked marijuana in the past
year; (me in five had smoked
marijuana in the past month.
Both studies also recognized
that attitudes about the effects of
marijuana were changing. Nearly
60 percent of the students
surveyed in the NHSDA survey
said marijuana was easy for them
to get, and less than half of the
respondents felt that marijuana
could harm them.
None of those numbers
surprise Hazard.
"Students are coming with
habits already entrenched," he
said, "and I think that's a
SGA Report
by Sean Siekkinen
Collegian Staff
News
“They know
it’s against the
law, but there
is a feeling of
nonchalance
about it. ”
- Victor Hazard
UK Associate
Dean
problem."
Hazard said many students
aren't recognizing that it is a
problem, though, and that makes
punishing them very difficult.
He said too many students are
looking at the short-term effects
of smoking, instead of looking at
their futures.
For instance, when a student
is found smoking pot on campus,
they come before the Dean of
Students and it is put on their
permanent record. Depending on
the severity, they can get
anything from probation to a
suspension.
If they live on campus, they
will be moved to another room in
campus housing on a first
offense.
Breaking the rules a second
time can mean big trouble.
"If I've dealt with you once
and I have to deal with you again,
then I didn't do enough the first
time.” Hazard said. "I won’t make
that mistake again."
The University doesn't want to
kick pot smokers out of school,
just to try to rehabilitate them and
get them to realize what they are
doing.
Most of the students getting
caught are freshmen who live on
campus.
"(Freshman residents) may be
less aware, or not take the rules as
serious," said Pat Whitlow,
associate director of residence life.
Whitlow agreed that finding an
effective way to combat the
problem is difficult.
"We've been trying to find
some education program,"
Whitlow said, "but there's not
anything that we've found yet."
The only alternative right now
for the campus is the On Campus
Talking About Alcohol program,
or OCTAA. The main problem
with the program is that it
focuses on alcohol, and includes
very little about marijuana.
P®Mm m<s
January 25: A former student was arrested after Police and
Safety officers observed him smashing the rear window of a
vehicle parked In the apartment parking lot. The individual was
lodged in the Erie County Jail in lieu of $5,000,000 bond.
January 29: Housekeeping staff reported the theft of two
recycling containers from the Nick building.
January 50: Person/s unknown removed food items from
venting machine in the Niagara lobby.
YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE HEALTH AND WELLNESS
CENTER'S FIRST ANNUAL MOST UNIQUE SNOW CREATURE CONTEST
HELD DURING WINTER WELLNESS FEST
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13,19%
PARTICIPANTS MUST COMPLETE THE ATTACHED FORM AGREEING TO BUILD A SNOW CREATURE
I BY 12 NOON ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13,19%. ENTRIES MAY BE EITHER INDIVIDUAL OR IN
k TEAMS OF NO MORE THAN FIVE. MORE THAN ONE ENTRY MAY BE RECEIVED FROM ONE j
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ifajARTICIPANT OF THE GROUP NEEDS TO BE PRESENT AT THE TIMF OP n rrvW
Thursday, February 1,1996
NEXT TO THE TENNIS COURTS.
in addition, OCTAA "already
has a caseload that is as big as a
well is deep,” Hazard said.
UK is left scrambling for
something to help educate the
students, but Hazard said there is a
nationwide problem as well.
He said he was amazed at the
number of questions his
counterparts asked about
marijuana at a regional conference
on University legal issues earlier
this fall.
It's a problem as schools
struggle to meet the 1989 Drug-
Free Schools and Communities
Act. The act says schools must
have a program in place to fight
drug use.
Without the program, a school
could lose valuable funding.
Hazard said he doesn't know of
any schools who have lost
funding, but he said keeping to
the Act's standards are very
important.
"It's not something we take
lightly," Hazard said.
"The key is that you have to
do something."