This story was originally published by Based in Lafayette
By Dave Bangert
Based in Lafayette
December 3, 2024
Looking to replicate a campus-led push to create the Indiana Lifeline Law in 2012, Purdue’s student body president and vice president have organized a coalition of student leaders from other campuses to back a bill that would expand a law that protects callers from prosecution for underage drinking when reporting someone who needs medical help.
State Sen. Ron Alting, a Lafayette Republican, filed a bill Tuesday that would update the law’s protection from criminal prosecution to the person who needs medical attention, as well.
At least three similar efforts have failed since then-Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the Indiana Lifeline legislation into law.
Rebecca Siener, Purdue’s student body vice president, said the conversation started 18 months ago after gathering accounts from students who said they feared the legal repercussions and possible academic consequences of underage drinking more “than the potentially life-threatening condition of alcohol poisoning.”
“This fear is detrimental to the health and safety of our student body,” Siener said during a press conference Tuesday with student and state leaders at Purdue’s Pfendler Hall. “And we as a student body representatives will not allow this fear to persist.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, Alting’s bill hadn’t been posted to the Indiana General Assembly’s bill tracking site. State Sen. Spencer Deery, a West Lafayette Republican, said he’d agreed to co-sponsor the bill. Siener said a coalition of students from a handful of campuses had a commitment from state Rep. Carey Hamilton, an Indianapolis Democrat, to carry the bill in the Indiana House if it clears the state Senate. State Treasurer Daniel Elliott, who chairs the Statewide 911 Board, said Tuesday he would advocate for the bill, too.
Jim Merritt, a former state senator who sponsored the initial Indiana Lifeline Law legislation, said attempts in 2016, 2019 and 2020 to expand the law went nowhere, failing to get hearings in Senate committees. Merritt said that could have been because the bills were wrapped up with measures dealing with opioid overdoses, as well, making them “a bridge too far for some legislators.” Merritt said the attempt in 2025 would be simpler and more direct, addressing situations involving underage drinking.
Deery said Tuesday that he hadn’t seen the bill Alting filed Tuesday. But he said he was open to the concept when Purdue student leaders asked him to help.
“I’m concerned most about circumstances that are leading individuals to over-consume, especially underage,” Deery said. “We need to get them the help for what led to that, but you can’t do that if they’re in a casket. So, I want to have a good, hard look at how we get people the help they need and make sure that they’re surviving the situation.”
Jason Packard, Purdue’s student body president, said he, Diener and other student leaders were modeling the approach in 2025 on how Purdue student leaders rallied other campuses in 2012. Packard said Purdue will have help from Indiana, Butler, Valparaiso, Indiana State, Marian and other schools. They’ve dubbed it the Indiana Lifeline Law Coalition 2.0.
“As one university, we don’t think we speak for the experiences at every institution, and they felt the same way 12 years ago,” Packard said. “They worked with the other schools to build that coalition, and they all independently spoke to their legislators and helped convince them that this made sense. … We need to do the same thing to make them see that this is one more way to help.”
Diener said education about the Lifeline law has to be a constant effort on a campus with new students every year. She called the lingering exposure for prosecution or punishment from the university for the person who has been drinking and needs medical help is a caveat that could make friends hesitate to make a call.
Packard said that during two years as a residence assistant in Tarkington Hall, “finding an overserved student who had been thrown out of a car or a nervous friend contemplating making the call was a weekly occurrence.”
“If the student calls, the student has broken their friend’s trust, gotten them in trouble and now will likely never make the call again,” Packard said. “This problem grows beyond the singular student. They might tell their friends the story and how they will never call. Perhaps they tell their dorm floor their experiences, and now that entire floor is discouraged to call. Or worst of all, perhaps a Greek house has an incident, and now an entire community is turned off from calling 911. This fear, direct or secondhand, has manifested into the dangerous drinking cultures we witness on our campuses.”
Dave Bangert retired after 32 years of reporting and writing on just about everything at the Lafayette Journal & Courier. He started the Based in Lafayette reporting project in 2021.
