Medical Amnesty

Illinois College is committed to keeping members of its community safe and wants to reduce any barriers to someone getting the assistance they need. If an individual becomes severely intoxicated or experiences a serious injury after consuming alcohol and/or drugs, it is imperative that someone call for medical assistance. To increase the likelihood that someone will call for medical assistance when faced with an alcohol/drug related emergency, the College will forgo all College disciplinary actions toward the person in need of medical assistance and to those who assist the person in obtaining this medical assistance. More specifically:

Person in need of medical attention: The person will be expected to attend an educational consultation at Templeton Counseling Center, but will be granted amnesty from all Alcohol and Drug disciplinary action noted above as long as they complete the educational consultation within the assigned time.

Calling on behalf of someone else: The individual who is in violation of the College Alcohol and Drug Policy, and calls for emergency assistance on behalf of a person experiencing an alcohol/drug related emergency, will be granted amnesty from the disciplinary actions noted in this policy. This individual, however, will be expected to complete an educational consultation at Templeton Counseling Center within an assigned time. A representative of an organization hosting an event is expected to promptly call for medical assistance in an alcohol/drug related emergency and this responsible action will result in significant mitigation of any sanctions against the organization. If members, however, fail to call for medical assistance in an alcohol/drug related emergency, it will be considered an “aggravating circumstance” and may affect sanctions against the organization if violations have occurred.

Exceptions: It should be understood that medical amnesty does not apply to criminal, civil or legal consequences for violations of federal, state or local law. It also does not apply to sanctions resulting from other College policy violations. For example, if the person is intoxicated and injures themselves by punching a hole in a residence hall wall, they would be given a warning and required to participate in the educational consultation per this medical amnesty provision, but they would still be responsible for the cost to repair the wall. Furthermore, if an individual begins to “abuse” this medical amnesty provision, then the individual would be subject to the appropriate disciplinary actions as defined above. At Illinois College “abuse” is defined as two incidents in one academic year. Thus the third incident in an academic year would result in disciplinary action.