FAYETTEVILLE - Unofficial results of a University of Arkansas student referendum show nearly 67 percent of voters favored lessening campus marijuana penalties, the question's organizers said.

The student-initiated voter referendum calls for equalizing the Fayetteville campus's internal judicial sanctions for marijuana and alcohol violations and asks the university administration to form a task force to consider policy changes.

Seeking the administrative policy changes will be the next step for the UA's National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws chapter, UA sophomore Rob Pfountz, campus director of NORML U of A, said Friday.

"It's up to the administration - they could very well ignore what the students want," said Pfountz, a political science major from Memphis. Chancellor G. David Gearhart has the authority to veto the student vote, he added.

"We believe Chancellor Gearhart will be interested in working with us," Pfountz said.

Gearhart said he wants to hear what students have to say.

"I don't feel a need to take any action other than asking our dean of students, Danny Pugh, to meet with them, and talk with the students," Gearhart said. "We obviously want to listen to the students, but we also want to obey the laws of the state of Arkansas."

The UA initiative is part of the nationwide SAFER Referendum movement, which contends marijuana is safer than alcohol and that college students shouldn't face harsher punish- ment for smoking it, said Mason Tvert, executive director of the Denver-based Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation.

UA penalties for a first minor violation for alcohol include attending a drug and alcohol class, 15 hours of community service and maximum $100 fine. The penalty for a first minor drug violation include mandatory drug counseling, 50 hours of community service, a $200 fine and suspended parking privileges for a year.

"I'm happy that the students have agreed with this measure, and have come out with overwhelming support of it," Pfountz said.

Lt. Gary Crain, spokesman for the UA Police Department, said the administration has no campus policies that conflict with state law and that he doesn't expect that it ever would. UAPD officers will continue enforcing Arkansas' marijuana laws regardless of the student vote and the administration's response to it, he said.

"If we fail to enforce state law, then that officer is in violation of his sworn oath," Crain said.

That doesn't surprise Pfountz, who emphasized the ballot initiative didn't seek to legalize marijuana, or address criminal penalties. It simply seeks to change penalties students can incur through the campus's closed judicial proceedings, which regulate conduct.

The referendum was part of the election for student government executive officers that began Monday and ran through Thursday, drawing 3,445 voters. The campus has more than 19,000 students.

Unofficial results released Thursday evening showed 66.9 percent of voters favored equalizing sanctions for possession and use of marijuana and alcohol as well as supporting a university task force to study policy changes, while 33.1 percent voted against, The Arkansas Traveler student newspaper reported Friday.

Final results await reviews by UA's Computing Services office and the Associated Student Government's election committee and judiciary.

Elsewhere this week, Purdue University students learned they had passed a similar referendum with 54 percent in favor.

"I do know the difference was 403 voters," said Sara Wislocki, president of that school's Purdue NORML chapter.

Her school's ballot question was similar to UA's, though it also sought to change strict dormitory regulations in which an unknowing student whose roommate gets caught with pot can be evicted, said Wislocki, a junior who shares the hometown of West Lafayette, Ind., with her school.

Purdue students voted entirely online from March 31 through April 2, with election results released Monday evening.

UA and Purdue are among several higher education schools that have adopted such resolutions, including six of the 15 largest universities, Tvert said, adding he knew of no others in Arkansas involved in the movement.