Written by Rob Hofmann ‘16, U.S. Movement Building Fellow

Our public-facing U.S. Campus Policy Gradebook document has been updated to include submissions through May 2020! As you may have noticed, we also changed the title of the document from the Campus Policy Gradebook to the U.S. Campus Policy Gradebook, since the positive and negative aspects highlighted in the Gradebook are mainly useful for students in the United States. 

If you don’t see your school on the list, talk to your U.S. Movement Building Fellow to see how you can start creating a Gradebook for your school! A completed Gradebook gives your chapter 30 CAT Points and is a great way to plan policy change campaigns for your campus. If you are not sure who your primary staff contact is, please email outreach@ssdp.org and you will be connected with the correct person for your region.

Each school starts with an average C grade. Positive policies—clearly defined sanctions for specific violations, sanctions focusing on education, harm reduction, and treatment as desired, and medical amnesty or Good Samaritan policies—improve the school’s grade. Negative factors—zero-tolerance policies, sanctions focusing on punishment, and reliance on referrals to law enforcement—warrant lower grades. An ideal alcohol and other drugs policy applies non-punitive measures (and withdrawal from school or school activities as a last case resort) based on the number and severity of a student’s infractions and includes a full medical amnesty policy. 

The Gradebook can be used to help students learn about the alcohol and drug policies at their schools and to let students compare their school’s drug policies to ideal and inferior policies. In addition, the recommendations for improvement can help students identify and work to change problematic policies on campus.