University officials are banking on bartenders to provide a healthier social climate next year.
The alcohol policy committee, chaired by Vice President for Student Affairs Janet Dickerson, released its report Tuesday on alcohol policy changes, which will go into effect this fall. The committee recommends that only University-approved bartenders be permitted to distribute alcohol in public spaces, including commons rooms, hallways, courtyards, sidewalks and two or more private rooms or apartments that are "co-hosting" a party.
While beer can be distributed free of charge, hard liquor and fortified wines could only be distributed through a cash bar.
In addition to distributing alcohol, bartenders would be responsible for checking student I.D.'s, and -- as stipulated by North Carolina law -- would be held liable for any alcohol-related incidents occurring at the parties where they serve.
Student bartenders likely would not be allowed to work at parties sponsored by a living group of which they are a member, Dickerson said.
The policy-making committee is soliciting community response to the recommendations before finalizing the policy. Dickerson said the final policy would be announced before students leave campus for the summer.
The report mentions little about such alcohol-related topics as noise policy or the nights alcohol may be served. Such decisions will be made by other committees before the end of the semester, said Trinity junior Lex Wolf, president of the Interfraternity Council.
The University policy may differ significantly from the one on which the IFC will vote Thursday. "This [University] policy is somewhat more liberal than what [the IFC has]," Dickerson said.
For example, the new University policy allows kegs at parties, while the IFC will most likely vote to ban kegs from their parties. Instead, all fraternity parties will be BYOB, Wolf said. Students could bring beer and wine to open fraternity parties, while beer, wine and hard liquor would be allowed at closed parties.
"While there is sure to be some outrage and disappointment on campus [about the IFC policy changes], the reality is that fraternities have, for too many years, harbored the legal liability and financial burdens of the social scene at Duke University," Wolf said.
The committee's report does not address alcohol consumption in individuals' rooms or off campus. Such omissions were made because the committee was not charged to deal with these issues, and the group wanted to focus more attention on the philosophies behind the alcohol policy, Dickerson said.
"We wanted to make sure that there was a University-wide understanding of what the policy is and what educational value it has," she said. "The present policy is not wrapped in a statement like that."
In its report, the committee states that the proposed policy was designed to promote two ideals: "To allow Duke undergraduates to use alcohol in social settings in congenial, moderate and nondestructive ways," and "to arrange social events at Duke so that compliance with state laws governing alcohol use is ensured to the extent possible."
The policy will not stand alone, Dickerson said.
"Whatever changes we make need to be accompanied by a set of social alternatives that are appealing to many students who right now think that the only thing to do is go to keg parties," she said.
Policy-makers will address enforcement issues more directly in the future, Dickerson said, but would like to see an atmosphere of "community policing."
"What we'd like to do is move away from an adversarial environment where all students think their opportunity is to see how effectively they can use their fake I.D. to get beer because they want it and deserve to have it--[as though] it's supposed to be some challenge match between [students and] Public Safety and the deans and other people who are the `enforcers,"' Dickerson said.
The alcohol policy committee will hold a town meeting April 13 at 9 p.m. in Page Auditorium, and students can e-mail comments on the proposed changes to alcohol@acpub.duke.edu, Dickerson said.
The full report is scheduled to run in a Thursday ad in The Chronicle and be accessible on the Internet, she added.
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