[media-credit name=’Kaylie Duffy/The Badger Herald’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]

Members of the student government are ironing out the details of a plan that would give students with minor alcohol policy violations a chance to opt for a $50 class instead of a drinking ticket.

Chair Sam Polstein said the program would provide a new approach to responsible alcohol policy enforcement that could provide a constructive middle ground for students caught by University of Wisconsin Police Department officers in policy violations.

Polstein said the proposed diversion initiative, the nationally recognized Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students program, would provide students who have minor violations with an alternative to costly tickets.

He cited a typical scenario of UWPD officers called by UW Housing personnel to intervene after a complaint as a possible application for the program, in which officers could use discretion to assign a student to BASICS instead of issuing an underage citation.

The proposal gained support from law enforcement representatives and members of UW administration in a recent meeting of the Chancellor’s Alcohol Policy Group.

“We want to make sure it’s not just another thing students have to go through and is actually a different approach to alcohol policy on campus,” Polstein said in an interview with The Badger Herald.

He said after UW students are referred to the BASICS program, they would have eight weeks to enroll through the Dean of Students’ office. He said the matter would go to the legal system if a student failed to sign up for the program in that time.

By facing a fee of $50 for two Saturday sessions each lasting an hour and a half, Polstein said students have been supportive of the initiative to provide students with necessary information about how to respond to violations instead of simply writing hefty tickets for drinking violations of varying severity.

The program would likely be formally approved during the summer, he said, with implementation beginning at the onset of the fall semester.

Polstein also said preemptive concerns were raised at the most recent Alcohol Policy Group about potential problems that could arise from the lack of no set boundaries for where alcohol can be consumed in Union South.

While no issues have yet been reported, he said there are possible liability and underage drinking issues that could emerge in the new facility.

Tom Templeton, Associated Students of Madison chief of staff, said while consumption was more confined to specific areas such as the Rathskeller in Memorial Union, personnel could implement new alcohol policies considered by the group before any actual issues with current policy had been cited.

He also said the group should enlist greater student representatives in order to weigh the effectiveness of the policies in place.

Members of the committee also said a major issue to be considered in the next semester will be the implications of City Council redistricting efforts currently underway.

Committee member Sam Seering said efforts to consolidate districts to create a seat to represent students was one plan up for evaluation.

Polstein said students currently have four alders that represent students, and having a district composed of mainly students provides a significant voice to the campus community that is absent at other universities.