College and Unversity Alcohol Amnesty ("Good Samaritan") Policies
Medical amnesty policies for students at colleges and universities are becoming wide-spread.
Sometimes called "Good Samaritan" policies, they are designed to protect the health and lives of students who over-consume alcohol to the point of needing medical help by assuring them that they will not be subject to disciplinary actions for obtaining that help. Such policies typically provide amnesty only if they subsequently successfully complete an intervention or alcohol education program.
Amnesty programs are a harm reduction policy. Other harm reduction policies require people to use seat safety belts or to use smoke detectors in their living quarters.
Some critics have suggested that alcohol amnesty policies encourage abusive drinking. However, few people would argue that requiring seat belts leads people to drive faster or that smoke detectors lead people to smoke in bed. Not punishing those who seek help for a medical emergency but requiring them to undergo intervention or alcohol education does not encourage them to endanger their lives again.
Colleges that lack medical amnesty policies may be putting the safety of their students at risk and might well find themselves sued and held legally liable for not having sensible or reasonable policies to protect their students.
Hundreds of colleges and universities have adopted medical amnesty policies because of the high value they place on protecting their students from harm or death. A partial list of these concerned and committed institutions includes:
- Alfred University
- American University
- Appalachian State University
- Aurora University
- Babson College
- Ball State University
- Benedictine University
- Boston University
- Brown University
- California Institute of Technology
- Carnegie Mellon
- Clemson University
- College of William and Mary
- Cornell University
- Dartmouth College
- Denison University
- Drake University
- Duke University
- Elmira College
- Elon University
- Emerson College
- Emory University
- Fordam University
- Franklin & Marshall College
- Franklin Pierce University
- Furman University
- George Washington University
- Georgia College
- Gettysburg College
- Hampshire College
- Harvard University
- Hanover College
- Hastings College
- Humboldt State University
- Ithaca College
- Keystone College
- Lafayette College
- Lake Forest College
- Lehigh University
- Lynn University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Misericordia University
- Missouri State University
- Muhlenberg College
- Northeastern University
- Hampshire College
- Kalamazoo College
- Kenyon College
- Lake Superior State University
- Marietta College
- Michigan Technical University
- Minnesota State University Moorhead
- Monmouth University
- New Mexico State University
- New York University
- Northeastern University
- Oberlin College
- Ohio State University (Columbus)
- Ohio University
- Olivet College
- Palm Beach Atlantic University
- Pomona College
- Princeton University
- Purdue University
- Ramapo College of New Jersey
- Rhodes College
- Rice University
- Rider University
- Rochester Institute of Technology
- Rollins College
- St. Benedict/St. John's University
- St. Lawrence UniversitySmith College
- Santa Clara University
- State University of New York at Binghamton
- State University of New York College at Fredonia
- Stetson University
- Swarthmore College
- Tri-State University (Trine University)
- Truman State University
- Tulane University
- Union College (NY)
- Unity College (Maine)
- University of Colorado at Boulder
- University of Connecticut
- University of Delaware
- University of Florida
- University of Georgia
- University of Kansas
- University of Massachusetts
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- University of New Hampshire
- University of Northern Iowa
- University of Oregon
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Scranton
- University of Southern Maine
- University of Tampa
- University of Texas at Austin
- University of Vermont
- Vanderbilt University
- Vassar College
- Washington College
- Wellesley College
- Yale University
Note: This website is informational only and does not provide any health, medical, legal or other advice or opinion and none should be inferred.
filed under: College
Need help with an alcohol or drug problem?
Someone at the highly effective St. Jude program can help you.
