The Bottom Line

Issue date: 10/11/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Matt Goldman

"Safety is the lens through which I examine the conduct and attitudes of our students to the community and to each other." These words, spoken by Dr. Gibralter at last Thursday's open forum summed up his attitude towards the way he and his administration will be handling all issues on and off campus.

While many students came to last Thursday'ís unprecedented presidential open forum meeting ready for a verbal battle, what they got was a general message of civility and moving forward from the president of the university. Dr. Gibralter took the time to address the positive points about the student body such as their commitment to community service and their involvement in activities both on and off campus. Namely the 250 participants in last year's Relay for Life and volunteer hours totaling more than forty thousand. He then went on to mention plans to improve residence halls and plans on completing a 52 million dollar center for communications and information technology before the current freshman class graduates.

Dr. Gibralter then attempted to dispel all the rumors that have been floating around since the beginning of the semester. He denied any involvement with the recent increased police presence around town including the raid at the Phi Tau house. He spelled out his zero tolerance policy by saying he has not spoken to the judicial board about suspending or expelling students with alcohol offenses. He stated that the primary purpose of the code of conduct is strictly educational.
Dr. Gibralter also denied going after unrecognized organizations before explaining the university'ís policy on handling off campus behavior. In short, just because a violation occurs off campus doesn't mean the school cannot get involved.

"I am calling for a change in one of our current practices which will not require a change in our current policy," said Gibralter. "I'm asking the administrative staff and the division of student and educational services to develop procedures that will enable the university to more consistently and more comprehensively respond to off campus behavior."

By far the hottest topic of the night was the zero tolerance policy. Dr. Gibralter explained that the concept was introduced to initiate a conversation about alcohol and to underline concern about student safety.

Continued...

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