AAIP: lower the fee

IU prides itself for maintaining a campus judicial system that is educational, fair and respectful of those who wind up going through it.

From teaching students found responsible for academic misconduct to assigning personal misconduct offenders to programs that help them learn from their actions, judicial officers make an effort to educate rather than punish when possible.

One area in which IU falls short of this image is how it treats students who are charged with minor first-time alcohol violations.

These students are offered a chance to clear their records by admitting to the charges and attending the Alternative Alcohol Intervention Program in which they complete an alcohol use survey and meet with a counselor to discuss their drinking habits.

This sounds reasonable until one considers that students assigned to AAIP are charged the same $200 fee as students assigned to a similar program.

The program called Successfully Managing Alcohol Responsibly and Together, which is reserved for repeat offenses, drunk driving and other serious alcohol-related incidents.

In short, IU charges the same hefty fee to a student who endangers human life as it does to a student unfortunate enough to be spotted sipping a Keystone Light in front of a resident assistant.

Underage drinking occurs on college campuses with regularity, and most offenders are never caught.

With the Lifeline Law and Hoosier PACT, IU moves toward a smarter, more reasonable philosophy of harm reduction.

Our drinking age is wildly hypocritical. Few countries give an entire class of citizens the vote, draft and death penalty but not drink.

Making an activity illegal does not make it inherently wrong. AAIP balances the legal and practical realities of underage drinking.

Both AAIP and SMART at one time cost $25, a plausible administrative fee.
The programs’ current cost resembles a punitive fine.

A $200 fee seems reasonable when applied to a student charged with drunk driving.

It is disproportionate when imposed upon a freshman written a ticket at a Welcome Week dorm party, especially as peers just a few years older drink legally across the street in Willkie Quad.

IU has a great opportunity in AAIP to be a fair and realistic adjudicator of drinking violations, one that educates while reserving punishment for those who use alcohol irresponsibly regardless of age.

By charging students outlandishly for the program, the University fails to seize that opportunity while giving accused students less incentive to be honest about their actions.

­— danoconn@imail.iu.edu