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  • Robb Murray

    Alcohol forum 11/21

November 20, 2008

Ideas fly at drinking policy forum

By Robb Murray

MANKATO — Amid all the opinions, righteous indignation and two-centsing, instructor Roy Kammer probably summed up the gathering best.

Kammer — during a forum about whether Minnesota State University should change its policy and discipline students for alcohol-related, off-campus infractions — said this:

“We really want to draft a policy that’s representative of our culture here on campus.”

The rest of the forum was sort of the verbalization of that culture.

Students stressed their need to be free and treated like adults, while administrators lamented the difficulty in crafting a university response to alcohol-related tragedies in the last year that have plagued the institution.

The forum was a chance for all interested parties to hammer out the differences. More importantly, it was about input.

Here’s a sampling:

“We’re not overstepping our boundaries when we ask you to be good citizens,” MSU President Richard Davenport said.

Student Thomas Williams said most students are. “We’re not out there to be bad students,” he said. “The majority of students are looking to have a positive impact on the world and on this community.”

Faculty member Steve Bohnenblust, holding a copy of the proposed policy in his hand, said, “This reads like a punishment-first policy.”

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Scott Olson added, “I don’t think the policy is prescriptive of everything the university will do. ... The reason we’re here is to get feedback.”

Student Marcus Piepho asked, “What is this policy going to cost the taxpayers or students to implement?”

Mary Dowd, who works with student discipline at MSU, said changing the policy won’t directly cost anything. She also said the university has always held some jurisdiction on some off-campus incidents, such as the riots of several homecomings ago.

Jerry Huettl, director of the Mankato Department of Public Safety, said he came to listen.

“I am an alum,” Huettl said. “So I do have a sense of wanting something that’s fair.”

Davenport said the media are partly to blame for the perception of a larger problem.

“They take a few cases and blow it way out of proportion,” Davenport said. “I’m sure this will be in the paper tomorrow.”

The policy won’t be finalized for several months. Input is still welcome.

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