Fraternity members at the University of Alabama are now facing weekly random drug tests, including urinalysis and hair sample tests. In fact, AL.com reports that the university kicked off the festivities by "quietly" drug testing members of Greek life organizations at the beginning of the academic year. Every active Greek life member was required to pass a "comprehensive drug test," with the random weekly follow-ups still ongoing.
"They’re killing the fraternity from the inside without even knowing it," an anonymous student told reporters, revealing he had been an SAE frat bro for three years before quitting when the mandated drug testing was implemented. "It’s just a little too babysitting-like. We’re 21. We’re adults." The university’s new program is described by David Westol, the owner of a company that works on "risk management" issues with national fraternity chapters, as "one of the boldest anti-drug initiatives" currently in effect in the United States.
Many other students argue that the university’s move toward a strict anti-drug policy, particularly when viewed within the context of Alabama’s status as a notoriously anti-drug state, is an obvious invasion of privacy. The totally esteemed Total Frat Move goes as far as calling this most recent frat move "the most blatantly obvious case of profiling I’ve ever seen," a pretty big statement from a publication that regularly uses the acronym "GDI" as some sort of an insult.
If someone chooses to skip or otherwise miss a drug test, several warnings are issued before the individual is forcefully removed from the fraternity. Before a student reaches this point, Maximizing Potential Through Academics Community and Treatment (MPACT) steps in to "help students get back on track before the school doles out harsher penalties." Though specific substances of interest have not been revealed, Cosmopolitan notes that Xanax abuse has been called one of the university’s "most commonly recorded" problems.
