College Marijuana Policy Unchanged After Statewide Legalization

(The Index, February 6) Not even a full two weeks after a historic midterm election, Kalamazoo College students, staff, and faculty received an email regarding the passing of Proposal 1, the ballot initiative to legalize the use of recreational marijuana statewide. While the proposal passed by Michigan residents with a twelve percent margin, colleges across the state, including K, have kept in place policies that prohibit the use of medical or recreational marijuana by students.

Kalamazoo College President Jorge Gonzalez outlined the rationale for keeping the policies in place in his email sent to the entire College community, saying “The new state laws do not supersede federal laws which classify marijuana, heroin and LSD as schedule one drugs. If K failed to comply with federal law, students could become ineligible for federal financial aid programs and the College could become ineligible for federal funds.” Roughly 23 percent of students at K receive Pell Grants from the federal government, and the College also gets money through federal research grants as well. Read more.