Pubdate: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 2014 Globe Newspaper Company Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340 Website: http://bostonglobe.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52 Authors: Matt Rocheleau and Eric Bosco UMASS HALTS DRUG INFORMANT PROGRAM The University of Massachusetts Amherst will suspend the use of confidential informants pending a full review of its program. The University of Massachusetts Amherst said Tuesday that it will suspend the use of confidential informants pending a full review of the program after a disclosure that a student informant for campus police died of a heroin overdose. Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy said he ordered the program's suspension along with a more comprehensive review than was previously planned. In a campuswide e-mail to students on Tuesday, Subbaswamy indicated that the program could be terminated, after the review. Tuesday's message, praised by student leaders, marked a shift from statements the university made Monday in defending the program. UMass said then that it would examine only two aspects: whether to require that informants in drug cases get help for possible addictions and whether to notify parents when a student is recruited into the program. "The well-being and health of our students is paramount, and the university must do all in its power to educate and protect our community from the dangers of drug abuse," Subbaswamy wrote Tuesday. "We must also focus our best efforts on sustaining an environment where every student can learn, thrive, and mature." On Sunday, a Globe story detailed how campus police recruited a student caught selling drugs to become an informant. Police told the student that if he agreed to inform on others, the school would not pursue criminal charges or disciplinary action against him and would not notify his parents about the arrangement. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom