Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 13, 1995 TAG: 9511130071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The board on Saturday also adopted a new policy that will allow student political groups to receive a university subsidy.
``In the health care industry, there are considerable concerns about patient safety and the quality of health care'' in addition to potential legal liabilities, university President John Casteen told the board.
Robert Cantrell, the university's new vice president and provost for health sciences, said current employees probably will not be forced to take the test without cause, but he could not be certain because the program still is being developed.
``It would probably be for new hires, but that hasn't been decided at this point,'' Cantrell said. ``We've had no instances that we're aware of where we've had employees taking drugs.''
Doctors, nurses and technicians at University of Virginia Hospital, as well as student health providers and clinical psychologists in the Curry School of Education, would be subject to the tests.
Cantrell said UVa lags behind other hospitals in employee drug testing.
``This is new for us, but Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville does it, and most hospitals do it,'' Cantrell said. ``I was frankly surprised that it hasn't been done'' at UVa.
|- Associated Press
In continuing fallout from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the board unanimously adopted the new policy making student political groups eligible to receive a university subsidy.
The policy, which took effect Saturday, forbids political groups from using the state funds for electioneering. It allows students to withhold $3.50 of the $14 in ``student activity fees'' they pay each semester if they disagree with the viewpoints of political or religious groups supported by the fees.
The high court ruled in June that the university discriminated against Christian students by refusing to subsidize a religious campus magazine called Wide Awake.
This summer, UVa made religious publications eligible for the subsidy, but officials have yet to address the question of other types of religious groups or religious services.
Earlier this fall, the student government denied requests to the University Democrats and the University Christian Fellowship, both of which applied for subsidies based on the Wide Awake ruling.
- Associated Press
by CNB