This year, OU President David Boren reflected on the fourth year of OU’s alcohol policy.
In 2005, President Boren proposed a new alcohol policy that would make OU a dry campus. The proposal was sparked by the alcohol-induced death of freshman Blake Adam Hammontree.
The proposal is what students know as the three-strikes policy: first strike, the student’s parents will be notified and the student will undergo alcohol education.
The second strike will result in the notification of parents and additional punishment such as community service.
The third strike is automatic suspension for a semester from OU. President Boren proposed new rules to cut down on alcohol abuse. Last semester, Boren shared his thoughts on the effectiveness of the policy.
According to Daily archives, in 2008, OU received 261 reports from law-enforcement agencies about OU students charged with driving under the influence. The article said that this is 53 more reports than what OU has received in any of the previous three years of the three-strikes policy. Boren said two factors contribute to the increasing number: increased enforcement of drunken driving laws both by OUPD and Norman police, and students no longer remember or don’t know about Hammontree.
“You could probably contact 100 students at random and say, ‘Have you ever heard of Blake Hammontree?’ And I would imagine a majority of them [would] say ‘Who?’” Boren said last semester.
Also, last semester, Boren said he believes the policy is making a difference despite the fading memory of Hammontree. He said it just needs some reinforcing.
Although there have not been any changes to the three-strikes alcohol policy, UOSA proposed last April to add a three-strikes drug policy to OU Student Code.
Director of Student Conduct Andrea Kulsrud said before the student code can be amended, the proposal must be sent to the Student Code Revision Committee for consideration.
She said positions like the UOSA President, the Chair of Graduate Student Senate and the Chair of Undergraduate Student Congress that serve on the committee must filled first too.
“The committee meets and either sends the original or revised version of the recommended change back to the legislative bodies for final approval or submits a dissenting opinion and/or alternative recommendations to the legislative bodies,” Kulsrud said by e-mail. “If the change goes forward to the legislative bodies and they accept the final recommendation of the Committee, the change is forwarded to the President who then presents it to the Regents with his recommendations.”
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kcreasey 2 years ago
That kind of logic reminds me of the "Firefox is the worst secured browser ever" just because it had the most reported vulnerabilities. Problem is IE's vulnerabilities are most often not announced when fixed and some aren't still unfixed.
Just because a statistic is higher does not mean that results are really higher.
Shanaynay 2 years ago
If there is going to be a ban, then it should be done properly and not half-assed. I have friends who do the alcohol checks in the dorms and Greek houses. It's absolutely ridiculous that they cannot open the fridges or drawers during the checks. Duh, students are going to hide booze in conspicuous places.
cacremin 2 years ago
I wish OU would quit the disgusting practice of milking the tragedy of Blake Hammontree to justify their pursuit of such backwards policies. Alcohol education is a noble idea, but the dry campus policy is ridiculous and misguided for the reasons outlined by eightbitgirl. Nanny policies like that should have died with the concept of "in loco parentis." Of course, the student body itself is to blame. Apparently the even more draconian and unenforceable smoking ban has majority support. So much for campuses being a hotspot for liberals/libertarians.
eightbitgirl 2 years ago
I don't think that Blake Hammontree's "fading memory" has anything to do with the increase in drunk driving arrests around campus. I think it has to do with the fact that now students who are legally of age to drink have to go away from the safety of their on-campus residences to do so and, as the article states, increased patrols by OUPD and Norman Police.
What happened to Blake is a tragedy and it shouldn't be undermined, but it shouldn't be used as a propaganda tool either. It was a terrible mistake and an accident, but it wasn't the fault of everyone here now, or those in the future who will ever attend this university. We, and they, shouldn't be punished for it. The fraternity involved has made actions toward atonement; why can't the rest of the student body? For everyone person who can't handle their liquor, there are thousands of us who can. Sometimes, like during dead/finals week, we just want to drink a beer with dinner on campus and not have to worry about it jeopardizing our academic career at OU. But no, we have to walk or drive to some bar on Campus Corner where cops are just WAITING to arrest students for public intox, drunk driving, or whatever else they feel like at that particular moment. They're not very forgiving, even to those of us who are walking. We have CART and SafeRide and all kinds of programs implemented to help us, but Daddy Boren still doesn't think we can handle our booze so we get treated like five-year-olds. It's almost insulting. No, wait, it IS insulting.
I pay a ton of money to go to school at OU and I love it here. What I don't love is knowing that people have to sneak booze into football games or parties or pretty much anywhere else because we "can't be trusted" to handle our liquor. Guess what? This is a college campus. People drink, whether you "ban" it or not. Why not educate students rather than treating them like children who don't have the brain and/or willpower to make their own decisions? Show us a little respect, President Boren, and we'll show you some right back. Using Blake Hammontree as some sort of martyr for this misguided cause seems rather insulting as well.
soonerboomers 2 years ago
The smoking ban is different than an alcohol ban for smoking has second-hand cancer-causing effects. Beyond that, inhaling a big hit of second-hand smoke going down the south oval is extremely noxious and unwanted; I have a migraine problem and that is one of the triggers. Alcohol consumption by others however has no effect on me. The two are not comparable.