RUSA Bill: F15 12
Author: Justin Schulberg, Viktor Krapivin, MarkChesler
Sponsors: Legislative Affairs, Student Affairs
A Bill to Create a Medical Amnesty Ad-Hoc Committee
Whereas, New Jersey in 2012 passed its first ever medical amnesty law regarding underage
consumption of alcohol;
Whereas, a significant amount of Rutgers Undergraduate Students have little to no
understanding of the current New Jersey law regarding underage drinking and medical amnesty;
Whereas, 31 states in the United States currently have a medical amnesty policy in place;1
Whereas, medical amnesty has been shown to be practical public policy;
Whereas, a Cornell University study concluded that while 19% of college students reported that
help probably should have been called for a highly intoxicated individual they were with, only
4% actually made the call;1
Whereas,68% of teens report that that they fear getting in trouble and being punished by law
enforcement when they drink;1
Whereas, in a one year period following the implementation of one Medical Amnesty policy, the
number of alcohol-related EMS calls increased by almost 700%. Studies also show that while
911 calls increased and fear of judicial repercussion decreased, drinking levels stayed the same
or dropped suggesting that the presence of the policy has not encouraged drinking;1
Whereas, Rutgers currently has no medical amnesty policy in place;
1
http://www.medicalamnesty.org/
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Whereas, other universities have been proactive in implementing expansive medical amnesty
policies, including Lehigh University, Cornell University, and the University of Alabama.
Be It Hereby Enacted, the Assembly creates the Medical Amnesty Committee. The Medical
Amnesty Committee shall be an ad-hoc committee and shall dissolve one week after the first
RUSA meeting in the spring 2016 semester.
Be it further enacted, this committee shall be composed of the Chair, one member from each of
the following committees chosen by their respective chair: Student Affairs, Legislative Affairs,
Sexual Assault Prevention; and one additional member of RUSA, to be chosen via an application
process by the Medical Amnesty Ad-Hoc Chair. One representative from VPVA, one
representative from Student Conduct, one representative from the Office of the Vice-Chancellor
of Student Affairs, and one representative from OFSA shall also serve on the committee.
Be it further enacted, the Chair will be elected via normal internal voting procedures.
Be it further enacted, that this committee shall address medical amnesty policy related to the
current New Jersey law and the Rutgers Code of Student Conduct, medical amnesty related to
organizations and fraternities, and medical amnesty related to sexual assault.
Be it further enacted, this committee will not infringe on the work of the current Mental Health
Task Force and would not be meeting during RUSA times. Each member of this committee will
be working on Medical Amnesty in addition to their current responsibilities within RUSA.
Be it further enacted, that Article III, Section W of the standing rules be amended to say: “If
there are two active Taskforces inside of RUSA, the members of the taskforces will be placed on
committees, or stay on the committees to which the members were originally assigned. A
taskforce shall be a synonym for an ad-hoc committee. Additionally, this clause shall not apply
to ad-hoc committees that are time-sensitive, meet outside the times of regular RUSA committee
meetings, and exist for 4 months or less.
Be it further enacted, that prior to the dissolution of this committee, the committee must issue a
report detailing any conclusions they came to. This report shall be agreed to by the majority of
the members of the committee. This report shall also be presented to the Rutgers University
Student Assembly general body. The body shall vote to adopt or reject the report after its
presentation in full, in part, or with amendments.
Passed
613 GEORGE STREET, NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ 08901
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