In the eyes of UCF’s Office of Student Conduct, violations of alcohol and marijuana may soon become one and the same.

On April 1, the Golden Rule Review Committee voted 5-1 in support of a change of campus policy that sets the punishments of marijuana use at the same level as that of wrongful use of alcohol.

According to the proposal, the disciplinary sanctions assigned to students for “unlawful minor possession of cannabis,” will match the sanctions for “alcoholic beverages possession violation.”

Students will have three  strikes at these violations before more strict sanctions are taken. 

The next step in the process of this change is  an administrative review of the recommendation made by the committee, and then approval of Maribeth Ehasz, vice president of Student Development and Enrollment Services.

“The review will accept, reject or modify the recommendation,” said Grant Heston, assistant vice president of UCF News & Information. “In this instance, UCF will manage this review as it does all others, and will communicate the result once a decision has been reached.”

The Golden Rule Review Committee is composed of students, as well as members of the administration, and is responsible for recommending updates for the Golden Rule.

The Golden Rule acts as UCF’s official handbook for rules and regulations students must follow.

Brittany Lane, a student who sat in on the meetings as an ex-officio member, said that she feels the committee made the correct decision.

“Some of the issues that came up were very complex and touched upon some of the systemic issues with the Golden Rule as a whole, but the committee chose to follow respectable logic . . . ” Lane said.

While the original proposal for the April 1 decision was filed on March 18, the process of fighting for equalization has been lengthy.

An equalization referendum went to the student vote in February 2008 during the Student Government Association presidential elections and passed by 57.77 percent.

The referendum said: “Do you support revising the Golden Rule to include an equal maximum punishment guideline for minor, on-campus marijuana and alcohol offenses for first, second and third time offenses, as defined by the Office of Student Conduct?”

In December 2008, the Golden Rule Review Committee met a 3-3-1 stalemate vote on the topic of equalizing marijuana and alcohol. That policy was presented by then SGA Senator Brendon Rivard.

During the recent equalization debate, Lane said, members of the committee and audience were able to keep their opinions about marijuana itself out of the debate.

“Most of the debate this year was very objective,” Lane said. “I was pleased that most committee members did not discuss their personal feelings about cannabis and instead respected the democratic support of the student body.”

Tyler Smith, president of the UCF chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law and SGA senator, said he worked hard to frame the debate as not a battle between students and administration, but rather a chance to work together.

“There were some people who don’t understand the nature of the debate on marijuana,” Smith said.

Smith said that NORML will be conducting a photo petition to present to Ehasz before her decision on the rule change.

The photo petition will consist of making a paper speech bubble and asking students if they support the equalization rule. If they do, a member of NORML will take their photo with the speech bubble.

Students can also get their photo taken at the NORML table in front of the Student Union from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., Monday through Thursday.

“Hopefully we’ll have a stack of photos to drop off and show her,” Smith said.