Pubdate: Fri, 05 Oct 2007
Source: Diamondback, The (U of MD Edu)
Copyright: 2007 Diamondback
Contact:  http://www.diamondbackonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/758
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?219 (Students for Sensible Drug Policy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular)

SENSIBLE STRATEGY

Student groups on the campus have much to learn from Students for 
Sensible Drug Policy. The group went the traditional, preferred route 
of achieving their goals. They set up meetings with Resident Life 
officials and tried to convince them that penalties brought against 
students who smoke pot in dorms are out of step with how society 
treats usage of the drug. But no dice.

In response, the group's leader, junior Anastacia Cosner, stepped up 
and joined the University Senate. Even though she'd be vastly 
outnumbered by faculty senators, she realized that joining the 
university's most powerful policy-making body is the most direct way 
to effect change.

Now it's apparent, as The Diamondback's Nathan Cohen reported 
yesterday, that SSDP has also employed a brilliant, unflinching 
method of lobbying resident assistants to use discretion when 
reporting marijuana use. To be clear, we don't support an on-campus 
housing scene where bong hits are more common than books. But SSDP is 
appealing to what this is all about: the appalling disregard of 
justice Resident Life officials have displayed so far.

Because Resident Life's policies on pot use are baseless, unbalanced 
and indefensible, SSDP will likely find great success in appealing to 
RAs. We hope that, as Resident Life will likely attempt to assail 
SSDP's efforts, RAs will do their duty to consider the plight of 
their fellow students and think critically about Resident Life's 
obsession with micro-managing its staff.

The Student Government Association, too, seems to be coming around to 
the populist approach of giving students more power. Their goal of 
registering 1,000 students to vote in next month's city election has 
been met with a surprisingly warm reception, especially considering 
students have had a long history of apathy at the polls.

But it's troubling that the SGA has been so singularly focused on 
engaging student voters without considering how difficult it would be 
to shake things up in the districts where so many students live 
without any challengers in the race.

There's something that can be done, however, and it can be pulled 
straight from the pages of the SSDP playbook: Frame the debate, 
appeal to people's sense of fairness and if the traditional approach 
doesn't work, don't be afraid to try something else.

Assuming students overwhelmingly edge out city voters this year and 
that most of the students who vote are this year's freshmen and 
sophomores, they'll all still be around to vote two years from now. 
That gives ambitious students two full years to campaign. That's two 
years to build upon the SGA's important work building a voter base 
this year, show up at council meetings to learn the issues and 
observe elected officials bow to anti-student constituents and take 
wishy-washy positions on everything from public safety to student housing.

No one, including the SGA, has ever really effectively done what SSDP 
has done, which is to go through the regular channels until there's 
nowhere left to go, then get pissed off and take it to the people who 
matter: the grassroots. It takes diligence, craftiness and - 
especially in city politics - a big learning curve. The SGA has laid 
the groundwork. They just need somebody to show how little the 
council has actually done for students and then demand change with a 
mass of student voters standing behind them.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom