By Mike Napolitano
A small suggestion to students who plan to light up something other than a cigarette this year: take it off campus.
While 65 percent of Massachusetts voters approved a ballot initiative to decriminalize the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana on Election Day, Assistant Director of Communications and Public Relations Renata Nyul said school drug policies will remain the same.
“Even if the law changes, it does not change Northeastern policy,” she said.
According to the university’s Code of Student Conduct, students found violating the drug policy face deferred suspension, mandatory attendance at a drug education program and a fine of $200. For a second offense, students are suspended, receive mandatory drug counseling and a permanent notation to their transcripts. The Code of Student Conduct does not clarify the sanctions for offenses past the second citation.
Nyul said in an e-mail to The News that students caught smoking marijuana in their residence halls would face additional penalties like the cancelation of their Residence Hall License and Dining Agreement.
The passage of Question 2 will make getting caught with less than an ounce of marijuana by Boston or state police punishable by a civil fine of $100. The offense will no longer be reported to the state’s criminal history board. Those younger than 18 would be required by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to complete a drug awareness program and community service, and if they don’t, will be fined as much as $1,000.
While many students did not know the school’s drug policies, some said Northeastern had the right to make its rules harsher than the city or state’s.
Freshman international business major Katelyn Webb said she did not mind the school’s current drug policies.
“I don’t think that they should be required to [follow the state’s drug regulations] because it’s a private school,” she said. “They can choose whatever rules they want, and it’s their facilities, so if they feel like marijuana should not be inside their buildings, then I don’t think they should have to monitor it or anything like that.”
Jim Ferrier, associate director of the Northeastern University Division of Public Safety (NUPD), said students should know that the Code of Student Conduct and the law are two separate things.
“Northeastern has had a long history of having the code of student conduct identify behavior that is not illegal,” he said. “This wouldn’t be the first occasion to prohibit something that the law allows.”
Ferrier said NUPD officers often report students caught with small amounts of marijuana to the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (OSCCR) as an alternative to an arrest.
“Very few police departments arrest everyone in violation, and we certainly don’t,” he said. “In a common case of students caught in possession of less than an ounce, we haven’t arrested any of those people. We dispose of the marijuana and refer them to OSCCR.”
While the old marijuana laws are still in effect until 30 days after the initiative is presented to the state legislature, Ferrier said NUPD is waiting, like every other police department in Massachusetts, for implementation guidelines from the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety.
“The law is likely to go into effect before the first of the new year, so Governor [Deval Patrick] has asked the Executive Office of Public Safety to review and come out with those guidelines prior to that,” Ferrier said.
Nyul said that she was not sure the law would pass.
“This law has not taken effect and it may never go into effect,” she said. “The Patrick administration and the state attorney general are opposed, and the Legislature has the power to amend or overturn the proposal before it is enacted.”
However, leaders in the state legislature have not expressed any plans to override the law, according to local media reports.
Ferrier said OSCCR reviews the Code of Student Conduct annually in the spring.
President of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) Kevin Franciotti said he had high hopes for future changes to the code, and would like to see “low-level” marijuana penalties reduced to what students receive for underage drinking.
“I think there’s a huge likelihood you’re going see a few changes in the code of conduct,” he said. “Student input has not been respected in the past in regards to the code of conduct. This year is going to be a much more promising year where students actually having a say.”
The Northeastern University Council for University Programs (CUP) and the SSDP worked to bring Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group pushing drug policy reform, Speaker Richard Van Winkler to Northeastern tonight to talk about his change in perspective of the war on drugs. The event will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in room 335 of Shillman Hall.
