Pubdate: Fri, 25 Apr 2003
Source: Emory Wheel, The (Emory U, GA Edu)
Copyright: 2003 The Emory Wheel
Contact:  http://www.emorywheel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2781
Author: Michael de la Merced
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

U. SENATE RECOMMENDS NEW DRUG TESTING POLICY

Individual divisions will choose whether to implement pre-employment drug
testing, the University Senate voted Tuesday at its last meeting of the
year.

In passing the new policy 19-7, the Senate concluded a year of often
contentious debate on employee privacy rights and the differences in status
between staff and faculty. What was passed, however, was merely a
recommended policy, as the final decision remains with University President
William M. Chace.

The recommended policy divides drug testing into two levels. The first
level, which is University-wide, mandates testing of all applicants for
"safety-sensitive" positions, including operators of heavy equipment and
police and security personnel. Such testing has already been in place at
Emory.

The second level allows individual schools or divisions to choose
pre-employment testing for all staff positions. Any unit opting for drug
testing must present its plan to the University Senate for approval by the
body's October meeting. The lone exception is Emory Healthcare, which has
conducted pre-employment drug testing since 1996.

Under the original plan, announced last March, all applicants for
non-faculty positions were subjected to pre-employment testing prior to
acceptance. Several divisions, including Campus Life and Facilities
Management, expressed support for the original plan.

That plan provoked sharp rebukes from several quarters within Emory,
including the Employee Council, which presented a resolution recommending
the rescinding of all new drug testing at the Senate's Jan. 28 meeting.

The Senate instead tabled the resolution until its Feb. 25 meeting, where it
voted to suspend further expansion of the current policy and to create a
Pre-Employment Drug Screening Policy Committee to investigate alternative
plans. Tuesday's Senate meeting was the committee's deadline.

As of the February meeting, about 90 percent of the University had
implemented the current policy. Because of the time needed for orientation
and training, some divisions, such as the College and the libraries, had not
begun screening.

Senate President-elect John Snarey, professor of human development and
ethics at Candler School of Theology, said the recommendation represented a
compromise between those who favored testing as a safety precaution and
those who felt testing violated employee rights.

"This was an attempt to recognize cultural diversity within different
divisions," Snarey said. "The committee hoped to respect all the diverse
needs of the University."

But the Senate meeting Tuesday was marked by sometimes-intense debate, and
at one point, Senate members mistakenly cast votes to pass or fail the
resolution, when the vote was whether to end debate and call the bill to
question.

Several members questioned the constitutionality of the body's regulating
individual departments' policies. University Vice President and Secretary
Gary Hauk said the Senate's bylaws made no provision for such specific
policy management. Its power, he said, lay in monitoring and advising the
president on University-wide matters.

Article III, Section I of the Senate's bylaws states that the body is
responsible for "matters of general University interest." Outgoing Senate
President William Branch said the bylaws also allow his position to
determine what constitutes a University-wide concern.

Since the recommendation covers all schools and divisions, Branch said he
determined the policy within the Senate's jurisdiction.

Others expressed concern that the Senate's annual membership turnover would
lead to inconsistent policy. The proposal was amended to recommend that
divisions wanting screening approval should report to the Senate by October.

Vice President for Human Resources Alice Miller, who was one of the
architects of the original plan, said the plan was "good-intentioned." But
she expressed concern that the new policy, if implemented, could leave the
Senate open to a more managerial role, a duty she said the body was not
equipped to handle.

Chace echoed Miller's concerns at the meeting, asking whether the Senate
wanted to use its time to look into individual divisions' policies.

"This body can render advice on all sorts of matters, but ultimate
responsibility is with my office or the office of the provost or the
executive vice president or several other offices," Chace said at the
meeting. "The question is, does it want to spend time on matters giving
advice where its advice may ultimately not be much wanted?"

Ford said Campus Life will continue pre-employment testing until October and
that he will appear before the Senate in then to present his division's drug
testing proposal.

Bryan Conley, senior associate director of development at the Carter Center
and a co-author of the original Senate bill to rescind the current policy,
called the recommendation a positive move.

"The procedure didn't matter that much," Conley said. "What we had always
moved for was a better policy."
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MAP posted-by: Josh