Students attending kegs the past two weekends may have noticed some new faces on the main quad scene.
Student life and student affairs administrators have been checking up on fraternities and other living groups that have been serving alcohol at parties by personally attending these functions on Friday and Saturday nights. These administrators have entered several parties, escorted by Public Safety officers.
The inspections by student life administrators are part of an ongoing effort to review the consumption of alcohol on campus.
"The Office of Student Affairs [is] taking a closer look at the levels of alcohol abuse at Duke," said Linda Studer-Ellis, assistant dean of University life and one of the administrators who has been going to the parties.
"Our purpose is to help educate the hosts of these parties about keeping in compliance with the alcohol policy," Studer-Ellis said.
Few parties have been shut down due to violations witnessed by administrators and Public Safety officers, said Studer-Ellis. Although she would not comment on individual parties, Studer-Ellis said that "if any egregious violations are seen, if the situation warrants it, then parties would be closed down."
An alcohol progressive hosted by Canterbury Dormitory, an upperclass lottery section on West Campus, was closed down by Public Safety Saturday night after Studer-Ellis and a graduate student discovered numerous violations of the University's alcohol policy. These violations included an unmanned keg, a lack of alternative beverages, decorations that posed a fire safety threat and the absence of people checking identification at the door.
The dorm was charged with all of these violations and its alcohol was confiscated by Public Safety, said Trinity senior Eric Johnson, president of Canterbury.
"The charges were not unwarranted, but I think they were severely hypocritical," Johnson said. "This was our first progressive ever, we were doing what the administration has been encouraging, we were providing an alternative to the hard-core, random, keg scene."
This semester has seen a marked increase in alcohol violations and alcohol-related accidents, according to figures released by the Office of Student Affairs. For example, student affairs has documented 40 alcohol policy violations so far this semester, compared to the 17 documented at this point in the semester last year.
In addition, some students admitted to the Emergency Department in Duke Hospital North this semester for overconsumption of alcohol have recorded blood-alcohol content levels as high as .314 and .360, which are high enough to induce comas. Five students were admitted for overconsumption of alcohol on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Studer-Ellis said it is unclear for how long administrators will continue to inspect parties.
"We're problem solving as we go," she said. "We're responding to concerns of students who are saying, `We're tired of all this."'
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