Medical amnesty is on its way to becoming an official policy at the University of Wisconsin now that the student government has formally written down its proposal.
The Associated Students of Madison Legislative Affairs representatives will meet with the dean of students and the director of University Health Services to officially put forward the proposal and exchange ideas Tuesday.
The medical amnesty proposal would partially protect students who call police or medical officials for help while intoxicated, and would implement a strike system for the students who need medical attention. Anyone who needs medical attention would face stiffer penalties for every time he or she called in.
Under the written policy, the caller would not be fully protected from receiving a ticket.
“The UWPD wants some sort of leverage over the caller. That is their main concern,” Legislative Affairs Chair Sam Polstein said. “Any sort of drinking citation should be subject to the amnesty, but any sort of conduct should be up to the police.”
Overall, the aim of the policy is to encourage more students to seek medical attention when it is needed and to bring education to a topic, student binge drinking, that involves mostly punishment at this point, Polstein said.
Polstein said the committee does not include the caller in the amnesty because they cannot encourage students to act inappropriately just because the law protects them.
Although the goal of the legislation is to give a measure of protection to students who over-indulge, some members felt these students deserve to be punished.
“If [students keep on making] the same mistake, I can see the justification of giving them a ticket every time, but there could be a deeper problem,” member Cody Ostensen said. “UHS should look into it at that point.”
Besides working on the medical amnesty legislation, the committee formally announced its vice president chairs.
Sam Seering was appointed to the vice president of state affairs, and Hannah Somers was appointed to vice president of city affairs.
Seering said he has experience in both local and state-level lobbying, so he feels he has prepared himself adequately for this opportunity.
“I believe I have the dedication to move things forward, and I am willing to compromise,” Seering said.
Somer said the goals she hopes to accomplish during her tenure would be continued focus on the current campaigns the committee is working on.
“I am very excited. It’s a good committee with great people, and I feel we can get a lot accomplished,” she said.