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Federal Law aimed at altering campus alcohol
culture
Executive Summary
- A federal law has existed since 1989 which requires
colleges and universities to seriously address underage and binge drinking
practices on college campuses. A summary of the law and the failure to
enforce follows.
- The first section of the act provides the
Sense of the Congress which instructs
colleges and universities work towards an environment which provides
"maximum opportunities for students to live in an alcohol-free environment
and to engage in stimulating, alcohol-free recreational and leisure
activities."
-
The law establishes requirements
as a condition for eligibility for Federal funding including any federally
funded or guaranteed student loan program.
- Central to those
requirements are:
-
Establishment of
standards of conduct that clearly prohibit, at a minimum, the unlawful
possession, use, or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol by
students,
-
A clear statement that
the institution will impose sanctions on students and employees
(consistent with local, State, and Federal law), and a description of
those sanctions,
-
A biennial review by
the institution of the institution’s program to
-
Determine the
program’s effectiveness and implement changes to the program if the
changes are needed; and
-
Ensure that the
sanctions required are consistently enforced.
-
The institution must
provide a certification of compliance that the above requirements
are satisfied
- Violations
under the statute are cited by US Department of
Education regulations to be:
o Failure to adopt or implement its drug prevention program; or
-
Consistently enforce its disciplinary sanctions for violations by
students and employees of the standards of conduct
- The law was initially
passed in 1989
- In the seventeen years
since enactment, no sanctions have been
issued by the US Department of Education
- Furthermore, before the
spring of 2007, no on-site compliance review has been conducted by the
Department
- The first such
review is now underway with respect to compliance at
Paul Smith's College
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