UF's Student Government released a statement Wednesday in an effort to explain proposed revisions to the Student Conduct Code's alcohol policy.
The release states that certain proposed changes have been modified to favor students more, resulting from the efforts of Student Body President Kevin Reilly and SG support.
As a result of these efforts, the release states, proposed changes to the code pertaining to common-source containers and excessive, rapid consumption of alcohol have been revised to eliminate concerns that students would be in violation of the code while off campus.
"No one is going to be policing what they do in their private time, as long as it's not associated with a student organization, a student event or on campus," Reilly said in a phone interview.
He continued, saying revisions to the code's alochol policy are not actually policy changes.
"We're not making any changes," he said. "It's the exact same thing that it is today, as it was yesterday, as it was a year ago, as it was two years ago."
But not everyone is convinced that is the case.
Reilly has taken some heat at recent Student Senate meetings for telling UF's Board of Trustees, UF's highest governing body, earlier this month that the student body backed the revisions.
In a Sept. 9 Senate meeting, Reilly told senators that he brought a list of concerns to the attention of the board and Vice President of Student Affairs Patricia Telles-Irvin earlier this month, but only about half of the concerns were addressed.
"I only had so much I could fight for," Reilly said then. "I did the best I could with what I had backing me up."
Sen. Heshan "Grasshopper" Illangkoon said in a phone interview that he thinks the revisions will affect students negatively.
Illangkoon said he believes the changes to the code will make offenses easier to prosecute.
Changes to UF's alcohol policy are distressing because "it sounds like they're enforcing sort of a prohibition off campus," he said, adding he doesn't think the administration has the right to change the code.
"Any changes should come from the students," he said.
The trustees' Educational Policy and Strategy Committee will vote on the revisions in a phone conference Monday.
