Collegiate Times

A new student group is campaigning for a Good Samaritan policy at Virginia Tech.

Hokies for a Good Samaritan Policy wants to change the policy to protect people who call 911 when they or a friend are illegally using drugs or alcohol from disciplinary sanctions.

“In these situations the clock is ticking,” Mark Goldstein, an accounting and information systems major and president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, said. “Every second you don’t call for help the person is closer to dying.”

Goldstein said the policy wouldn’t shield people who committed other crimes, such as driving under the influence of alcohol or fighting, and those involved wouldn’t be granted complete amnesty.

“That’s not to say no sanctions would be applied. It just wouldn’t be disciplinary sanctions. For example, they might be required to enter a treatment program,” Goldstein said. “We’re just trying to change how we look at (the policies). We don’t sanction or permit alcohol or drug violations.”

The University of Maryland instituted a Good Samaritan policy covering alcohol violations.

Irina Alexander, a Tech alumna, transferred from Maryland. At Maryland, Alexander was the chair for the university’s chapter of SSDP. She started an SSDP group at Tech.  

Alexander said the campaign to get a Good Samaritan policy at Maryland was an uphill battle. The administration was opposed to such a policy, despite an SGA poll showing that 93 percent of students would be more likely to call for help if there was a Good Samaritan policy.

“Even if one person had said yes, just that one person would be more inclined to call for help during a drug overdose would be huge,” Alexander said. “This isn’t about punishing people, it’s about saving student lives.”

The administration starting listening to the students’ arguments after Alexander appealed to Maryland’s new president, who attended a college with a comprehensive drug and alcohol Good Samaritan policy.

The response was overwhelming, and the policy passed with a 78-1 vote in the university senate.

Tech administrators are open to the policy. Last week, a group of officials met to discuss the Good Samaritan policy, as well as other related policies, such as the Zero Tolerance drug policy.

Those who attended the meeting included Ed Spencer, vice president of student affairs, Steve Clarke, director of the alcohol abuse and prevention center, and representatives from the Blacksburg Police Department, VT Police, VT Rescue and other organizations.

Spencer said current procedures already take mitigating circumstances into consideration.

“What we are probably going to do is formalize that into a statement that would give reassurances to people that if they do act as a Good Samaritan or ask for help for themselves, it will very much be taken into consideration,” Spencer said.

The statement will be made before the beginning of the next semester.

“We had a really good consensus in the room that we ought to move away from tying the hands of a hearing officer and absolutely requiring that somebody will be suspended,” Spencer said. “That isn’t to say in some cases they won’t be. They probably will be.”

Spencer said administrators want to avoid a situation where students are not ever being held accountable for their actions, but circumstances should dictate what kind of sanctions are applied. Spencer also said mitigating circumstances would be considered in drug cases, taking a step away from the Zero Tolerance policy.

These changes will be made the way policies are enforced. The Board of Visitors must vote on official changes. Hokies for a Good Samaritan Policy hopes to petition it to add a Good Samaritan policy to the official university policy.

A version of this article appeared in the Apr 26 issue of the Collegiate Times.