Three-strikes
affects students
By
Kristen Wooley
On-line Forty-Niner
This
is no ball game. The three-strike law at
Cal State Long Beach is a serious attempt
to regulate alcohol abuse on campus, primarily
in the dorms.
"We
know that residents drink. It's just going
to happen, but students need to know that
when they are being stupid about it and
drinking with their doors open, they are
going to get caught," said Ryan Henderson,
one of the five resident advisors for Los
Alamitos dorms.
The
first few write-ups this semester, Henderson
said, occurred when the fire alarm sounded
and students evacuated their rooms. When
the resident advisors made rounds to ensure
everyone was out, they came across open
alcohol containers.
"Some
residents got angry saying that we shouldn't
have gone through their things. I told them
we were obligated to check the rooms and
they know the rules," Henderson said.
Henderson,
who is a second year advisor, admits that
he does not want to be the "bad guy"
but he has to enforce the rules. "This
semester started off pretty quiet for about
the first four weeks. Now I can say that
there have been eight write-ups in our building
alone which I think is the most of any dorm
so far this year. Last year we had about
25 write-ups for the building, some of which
went to a second and even third strike,"
he said.
A
write-up is the first step of the three
strikes program, where a student is cited
for alcohol must talk to the coordinator
of the building. If they admit guilt of
the action or are found guilty they must
complete a three hour workshop that is organized
by the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drugs organization
on campus, Stan Olin, director of housing,
said.
"The
idea is to implement social norming where
students get information on alcohol abuse
and are basically informed that although
it may be assumed, not everyone in college
is getting drunk all the time," Olin
said. He went on to say that the workshop
is a way to let especially newer students
know the college stereotype is not for everyone.
The second strike against a student results
in the students' obligation to meet with
a counselor in the Counseling and Psychological
Services department for one on one advising.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Program collaborates
with many groups on campus such as CAPS,
"to promote alcohol safety," Ralph
Davis, coordinator of the program, said.
"Students
usually don't get to their third strike.
The first two are sort of a wake-up call
and students usually are smarter after that,
but it does happen," Henderson said.
After
a student has admitted or been found guilty
of his or her third strike, "it is
clear they don't want to live by the community
rules," Olin said. Students are then
subject to be kicked out of the dorms and
possibly the university.
This
is the third year that we have been doing
the three strikes program and it has been
pretty successful because we are giving
the staff something to enforce. We started
the program when the Chancellor of the CSU
system said that schools needed to come
up with a set plan to encourage people to
make better decisions about alcohol use,
Olin said.
"Students
need to know that when they are being stupid
about it and drinking with their doors open,
they are going to get caught."
-Ryan Henderson, resident dorm advisor
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