Alcohol policy undergoes massive changes

Gone are the days when the beer flowed like water and the mixed drinks like waterfalls, due to a newly implemented and thoroughly revised campus alcohol policy.

Originally proposed in the residential policy approved by the Board of Trustees last December, the new policy was developed this summer by the Alcohol Policy Rules and Regulations Committee.

Having received final approval this week from Vice President for Student Affairs Janet Dickerson, the new regulations will now go into effect.

The policy prohibits the open distribution of alcohol at any social gatherings in public spaces on campus, which are defined as "all locations other than students' private rooms or apartments."

Dickerson said she thought the new policy would require an increase in student responsibility.

"We expect greater involvement by students in making their own decisions and policing their own functions," she said.

Kathleen Wallace, assistant to the dean of student development and chair of the committee, said that the policy is based on health, safety and individual responsibility. "We have been painfully thorough with this policy, but we have tried to reduce the amount of detail present in past policies," Wallace said.

With no more open distribution, the policy states that "only University-approved bartenders, who will be responsible for carding, are permitted to distribute alcohol."

"If we allow students to bartend at their own functions, that is inviting abuse," Dickerson said. "Bartending should be viewed as a professional employment activity."

Trinity senior Lex Wolf, president of the Interfraternity Council, said these limitations will not be a concern for any greek organizations that are members of the Interfraternity Council. Last spring, IFC adopted a Bring-Your-Own-Beverage policy that prohibits open distribution at fraternity parties.

Black greek organizations, which fall under the jurisdiction of the National Panhellenic Council, already have an alcohol-free policy for all undergraduate events, said Trinity senior Jon Swain, president of the Duke chapter of the NPHC.

Wallace said that the committee realized that regulating a BYOB policy would be extremely tedious and difficult, and therefore, the policy would set no specific limits on the number of cans a student can bring to a party.

"Instead, we are going to target overall disruptive and abusive behavior," she said. "We will impose more severe sanctions on the individual for any such behavior."

According to the policy, students will be allowed to bring any form of alcohol, from beer to hard liquor, provided that no alcohol is brought in a glass container.

The policy states, however, that "individuals are permitted to carry alcohol in a quantity deemed reasonable for their personal consumption during a four-hour period of time."

"Obviously this is an extremely discretionary area," said Lewis Wardell, assistant director of Public Safety. "We are going to try and be reasonable, but I guarantee that if a person shows up with a case of beer, he or she is going to be told to get rid of it," Wardell said.

In addition, no common containers will be allowed at any BYOB event. The policy defines a common container as "any keg, large bottle, punch bowl, trash can, cooler, refrigerator or other device used for storing or mixing a quantity of beverage or from which a quantity of beverage is distributed to or consumed by more than one person."

The policy does not prohibit a person from bringing a small cooler to a BYOB event, as long as that cooler contains alcohol to be consumed only by the person carrying it, Wallace said.

Wardell said that in the enforcement of such a policy, Public Safety officers will focus their efforts on any behavior that attracts unusual attention to a person.

"We don't want our response to be post mortem," he said. "We will target disorderly behaviors that are precursors to more serious problems. We want to emphasize a `stay cool/act cool' philosophy."

Wardell said that to enforce this new policy fully and successfully, Public Safety will have to instill a new attitude in its officers. "There has been a lot of [student] behavior that has been tolerated that shouldn't be tolerated," he said. "That was because of the community standards."

To improve Public Safety's past record of enforcement, Wardell has been conducting special training sessions with Public Safety squads. He said that Public Safety has had a problem in the past of not giving sufficient notice to students concerning its intentions.

"We intend to make it very plain beforehand that Public Safety will use everything at its disposal to handle alcohol policy violations, up to and including arrest," he said.

With an emphasis more on eliminating abusive and irresponsible behavior and less on detailed regulations, the sanctions for violating the new policy have become more severe than they were in the past (see graphic, page 16).

Violations fall into three different categories, in order of severity: underage possession and consumption, impaired and disorderly behavior and distribution.

Sanctions for individuals can range from a formal warning and possible referral to a substance abuse specialist upon first offense of the first category, to a two-semester suspension upon third offense of the third category.

For living groups, the policy attempts to punish severely any violations of the distribution policy with sanctions ranging from a four-week social suspension and five hours of community service per member upon first offense of the first category to the loss of University recognition for one year upon third offense of the third category.