Britain’s first drug-free university? Buckingham’s Vice Chancellor forces students to sign ‘zero tolerance’ contracts after he was hit by the death of a ‘vivacious’ 21-year-old after taking a toxic batch of GBL
- Buckingham University students will sign contracts agreeing not to take drugs
- The move is to help the university to become Britain’s first ‘drug-free campus’
- Vice-chancellor Sir Anthony Seldon said it’s ‘insane’ for drug-taking to continue
A university is to ask students to sign contracts agreeing not to take drugs in its bid to become Britain’s first ‘drug-free campus’.
Students at Buckingham University are being asked to start a ‘revolution’ in making drug-taking ‘socially unacceptable’ in higher education – but will still kick out those who flaunt the rules.
Vice-chancellor Sir Anthony Seldon says it is ‘insane’ to allow drug-taking in universities to continue ‘with half and more students taking them’.
And he warns that education bosses are in danger of ‘colluding in the mass consumption of illegal drugs on our premises’.
Buckingham University will be asking students to sign contracts agreeing not to take drugs in its bid to become Britain’s first ‘drug-free campus’ and start a ‘revolution’. Pictured: Verney Park Campus at Buckingham University
It comes as a top university was criticised last week for giving detailed advice on how to take drugs ‘safely’ on its website.
Sheffield University, where a student died last year after taking ecstasy during a club night, offers a step-by-step guide online on taking specific substance through its student union.
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It tells students who take drugs with a needle not to ‘inject alone’ and gives instructions about crushing MDMA and how long to wait before ‘considering redosing’.
Writing for the Mail, Sir Anthony said: ‘I began to ask myself what kind of moral leadership we university leaders were providing in colluding in the mass consumption of illegal drugs on our premises, with half and more students taking them?
Vice-chancellor Sir Anthony Seldon (above) said it was ‘insane’ to allow drug-taking in universities to continue and warned that education bosses were in danger of ‘colluding in the mass consumption of illegal drugs on our premises’
‘Where was the compassion, and care for vulnerable and often still young students living away from home for the first time, in letting the status quo blithely continue?
‘We aim to do this not by focusing on expulsion – this can lead to already marginalised students experiencing acute difficulties in their lives – but by a compassionate policy of making it clear that drug-taking is totally unwelcome on campus.
‘And we will actively support those students who are struggling.
The university already allows police and sniffer-dogs on campus to deter use, but now hopes its ‘compassionate policy’ and support for those who want to stop using will lead to a culture change. (Stock photo)
‘However, any students who don’t respect our policy, who repeatedly use drugs or who deal drugs, will[ital] be asked to leave.’
Buckingham University already allows the police and sniffer-dogs on campus to deter use, but the university hopes its ‘compassionate policy’ and support for those who want to stop using will lead to a culture change.
‘We are working towards a student-framed contract pledging to our values and no drug taking. Old fashioned maybe. But never more needed,’ Sir Anthony said.
Students will be asked to leave if they continue to take drugs on the 3,000-strong campus after signing the contract, with Sir Anthony prefering to ‘support’ those who use substances but willing to resort to drastic measures.
He added: ‘We aim to do this not by focusing on expulsion – this can lead to already marginalised students experiencing acute difficulties in their lives – but by a compassionate policy of making it clear that drug-taking is totally unwelcome on campus.
Sir Anthony said he would prefer to ‘support’ those who use substances but willing to resort to drastic measures
‘And we will actively support those students who are struggling. However, any students who don’t respect our policy, who repeatedly use drugs or who deal drugs, will be asked to leave.’
A report published this year revealed that the number of UK students disciplined for drug-use has risen by 42 per cent since 2015.
More than 1,300 students were disciplined for drugs by British universities in the 2016-17 academic year – a 42 per cent rise on 2014-15.
Most involved smoking cannabis, but increasing numbers involved hard drugs or dealing.
Earlier this year the NUS urged universities to stop reporting students found in possession of drugs to the police.
A report showed that in 2016-2017, of the 2,067 cases of student drug possession recorded across the country, 531 were reported to police and 21 were permanently excluded from university.
It urged universities to play a more supportive role in dealing with the issue, arguing that mental health could play a part in some students’ decision to take drugs.
The NUS also argued the use of sniffer dogs and searches on campus were ‘Incredibly invasive and intimidating’ and could cause high anxiety levels, after it emerged one in 10 of those who had used drugs said they had been searched on campus.
Countless more studies have shown that the use of illegal drugs is not without consequence.
Hospital admissions of 18 to 25-year olds for mental illness involving cocaine have risen by 74 per cent since 2014, with more than 2,200 cases last year, while admissions involving young people and cannabinoids are also up 11 per cent, to just under 8,000.
Vice chancellor Sir Anthony Seldon: Tragic death of bright student Hester, 21, shows why we must drive ‘party drugs’ from our universities
When I was headmaster at Brighton College, one of my students, Hester Stewart, stood out as particularly vivacious, engaged and bright.
She had ambitions to be a surgeon but in 2009, while studying molecular medicine at Sussex University, she died after taking the ‘party drug’ GBL.
Hester was just 21, yet another in the long line of those who have fallen victim to the evils of drug-taking. Today the damage and deaths continue.
At Brighton, and later at Wellington College, I made a strong stand against drug-taking.
When I was headmaster at Brighton College, one of my students, Hester Stewart (above), stood out as particularly vivacious, engaged and bright
So when I became a vice-chancellor three years ago, one of the first questions I asked was: Why can’t we make Buckingham a ‘drug-free campus’?
I was told by long-serving colleagues at other universities that I simply didn’t understand the culture; drugs, like heavy-drinking nights, were a rite of passage for students at university.
Any attempt to challenge that culture would be seen as an infringement on the right of students and an over-reaction.
I was out of touch, a middle-aged school teacher in the bright world of higher education. Forget it, they said.
I have, over the years, fought many battles. I once received a death threat from a pupil I expelled for drug-pushing, and when I introduced ‘well-being’ lessons to the curriculum, I was mocked by some in the educational establishment and the media (now they are commonplace).
But I had no desire to face down undermining comments I’d attract by tackling the campus drugs issue.
Instead I focused on improving student mental health and the quality of university teaching.
The concerns would not go away, however, and the stories of drug-induced death, injury and psychological damage among students across the country have continued to haunt me.
As many as half of all students have taken drugs.
So when I became a vice-chancellor three years ago, one of the first questions I asked was: Why can’t we make Buckingham a ‘drug-free campus’? (Stock photo)
In despair, I wavered between one of two policy extremes: Following the practice of some boarding schools and expelling drug users, or managing an intractable problem the best we could by offering advice to students on how to take drugs safely.
I didn’t favour either option. I asked myself what kind of moral leadership we university leaders were providing in colluding in the mass consumption of illegal drugs on our premises?
Where was the compassion, and care for vulnerable and often still young students living away from home for the first time, in letting the status quo blithely continue?
It is often the less confident students who are sucked in by social pressure to start taking drugs, and the most vulnerable who suffer the worst psychological damage. Now, however, through talking to students at Buckingham, I believe we have found a different way – a revolution from below if you like.
Students tell us they no longer want to be part of a culture that tolerates the injection, inhalation or ingestion of toxic chemicals, the origin and potency of which are unknown. They have a point.
We know these drugs can cause irreparable damage.
Just this month, researchers at Montreal University reported that cannabis poses a far greater risk to the teenage brain than alcohol.
Crucially, students don’t want to see money from their peers going into a criminal activity that thrives by selling drugs and includes inveigling children to courier illegal substances, as the Mail has highlighted with its investigation of the ‘county lines’ scandal.
There is something admirable, and ironic, about students making this stand where one might have expected university leaders to show the way.
Dominant student leaders decree what the culture is, a culture that has for too long tolerated drugs and excessive drinking that many students want no part of and which those from different religious backgrounds and cultures find hard to challenge.
The middle way, which we are rolling out at Buckingham, aims to make the taking of illegal drugs as socially unacceptable as cigarette-smoking now is in public.
We aim to do this not by focusing on expulsion – this can lead to already marginalised students experiencing acute difficulties – but by a compassionate policy of making it clear that drug-taking is totally unwelcome on campus. And we will actively support those students who are struggling.
However, any students who don’t respect our policy, who repeatedly use drugs or who deal drugs, will be asked to leave.
Bunckingham is the first university to adopt ‘positive psychology’ as our mental-health approach, which means we put the emphasis on giving students guidance and encouragement to lead physically and psychologically healthy lives.
We already invite police and sniffer dogs on to campus to look for drugs to deter use. We promote healthy alternatives to show students they do not have to get ‘wasted’ to have a good time.
Ultimately, we are working towards a student-framed contract pledging to our values and no drug-taking. Old fashioned maybe. But never more needed.
Fifteen years ago, most people would have said that you could never stamp out cigarette-smoking, yet we are close to doing exactly that. In 15 years, through this culture change driven by students, we will make drug-taking just as socially unacceptable.
Moreover, we will look back and be utterly amazed that our top academic institutions tolerated for so long the taking of chemicals supplied by criminals.
With cigarettes, initially we lacked the evidence that showed the harmful effects. On drugs, we already have the evidence.
It is insane to let this continue. The tragedy is so many young lives have been destroyed while we were asleep to our responsibilities.
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