Pubdate: Wed, 01 Oct 2014
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2014 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Authors: Matt Rocheleau and Eric Bosco

UMASS HALTS DRUG INFORMANT PROGRAM

The University of Massachusetts Amherst will suspend the use of 
confidential informants pending a full review of its program.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst said Tuesday that it will 
suspend the use of confidential informants pending a full review of 
the program after a disclosure that a student informant for campus 
police died of a heroin overdose.

Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy said he ordered the program's suspension 
along with a more comprehensive review than was previously planned. 
In a campuswide e-mail to students on Tuesday, Subbaswamy indicated 
that the program could be terminated, after the review.

Tuesday's message, praised by student leaders, marked a shift from 
statements the university made Monday in defending the program. UMass 
said then that it would examine only two aspects: whether to require 
that informants in drug cases get help for possible addictions and 
whether to notify parents when a student is recruited into the program.

"The well-being and health of our students is paramount, and the 
university must do all in its power to educate and protect our 
community from the dangers of drug abuse," Subbaswamy wrote Tuesday. 
"We must also focus our best efforts on sustaining an environment 
where every student can learn, thrive, and mature."

On Sunday, a Globe story detailed how campus police recruited a 
student caught selling drugs to become an informant. Police told the 
student that if he agreed to inform on others, the school would not 
pursue criminal charges or disciplinary action against him and would 
not notify his parents about the arrangement.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom