Students feel college’s punishment

This archived article was written by: Zak Konakis

The smell of your clothes may be a smoking gun. Or that is what some may lead you to believe, but what started as misunderstandings, hearsay reports of alcohol and a premature closing of a CEUSA-sanctioned event, escalated into a witch hunt for truth and contraband on campus.
Andrew Hardman, president of CEUSA, is not a gestapo out to enforce his will by closing an event down, “I would much rather have events go and let everyone have fun. To my understanding it was time to wind down the event. It was about 10:30 at night and we were playing music. We try our best to respect the surrounding community and not have a bunch of noise going on all of the time.” Hardman replied, “After talking with the activity’s supervisor, he would have liked to see it go longer, but to my knowledge it had gone as long as it should have.”
When asked about the reports of it being closed down due to rumors of the smell of alcohol on certain persons he stated, “If we would have set it back an hour I still would not have shut down the activity, but would have contacted campus police and Officer James Prettyman could have done the breathalyzers.” Officer Prettyman could then handed out citations, or taken the students into custody depending on age and alcohol consumption level.
The punishments were handed out and first-time offenders swiftly dealt with, however excessive it may seem, but what are the students entitled and agreeing to in their code of conduct? Is the body as a container, which is not a state law, but instead, a campus regulated policy, being the crux of matters. Though, that is just hearsay.
On the evening of the first day of school stomp, two students were suspected of having consumed alcohol. After being asked to leave the event, the two complied and returned to their dorm room. Twenty minutes later, the two men were talked to by Officer Prettyman and issued citations for alcohol consumption and having containers of alcohol on campus, the containers being their bodies.
The two waived their rights to a breathalyzer and signed the consumption citations, though both were entitled to a breathalyzer as a right. Instead of fighting the citation, Randon Kerr and Zach Reynolds, both 21 years old, commented, “We knew that we had messed up and so we admitted it to the officers that morning and admitted to Hardman when asked whether or not we had been drinking the night before. We weren’t going to lie about it.”
The two reported to Dean of Students DEl Beatty later that day and punishments were handed out to the two first time offenders. “We are now in the punishment phase. We are required to attend two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings as part of the ATOD requirements for our punishment.”
The two are not fighting their punishment but instead setting an example, advocating personal responsibility and awareness of student rights. “We’re not looking to make a ruckus over this, but instead own up to what we’ve done and make sure that students know what they’re entitled to, not so they can get away with it, but so they are protected as individuals.”
Though the mandated sessions with the campus therapist would seem brutal punishment the two admitted, “Looking back and talking with some of the people that we had hurt by making the decision was probably one of the worst experiences of my life.”