Survey: Frosh getting around alcohol policy

But most freshmen are satisfied with non-Greek social options at Penn. When a task force of students, faculty members and administrators proposed a new alcohol policy last spring, their goal was to minimize binge drinking and provide more social options for Penn students. Now, with a semester under its belt, several of the provisions designed to cut down on binge drinking are being loosely enforced -- if enforced at all -- at weekend fraternity parties, according to a recent Daily Pennsylvanian survey of nearly 250 freshmen. Of the randomly polled freshmen included in the survey, which had a 6 percent margin of error, 78 percent said they never bring their own beer to fraternity parties -- a violation of the policy's strict BYOB provision. In addition, 60 percent of the students said they never have problems getting served at fraternity parties, while another 14 percent said they can drink at parties because they own fake IDs. In a 10-page list of recommendations submitted to University President Judith Rodin in April, a provost-appointed task force proposed several key changes to the University's former alcohol policy. Specifically, the task force recommended a strictly-monitored BYOB policy at all undergraduate registered events, a 1 a.m. serving limit on registered parties and a total ban of hard alcohol at all undergraduate events. The BYOB policy means that a group holding a party can pre-purchase one six pack of beer per each over-21 organization member. Then guests that can legally drink may bring a six pack and give it to the bartender who gives them six redeemable tickets. The results of the survey call into question exactly how much attention fraternities have been giving to the BYOB policy by serving alcohol to freshmen who are under 21 and who do not arrive at parties with their own beer. "If certain aspects of the policy aren't working as well as others, then that's something we have to deal with," said newly elected InterFraternity Council Executive Vice President John Buchanan, a Phi Kappa Psi brother. Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director Scott Reikofski added, "It's obviously a problem because those [fraternities] who are supplying have been breaking the law." "It's going to be really difficult to do because there are a lot of fake ID rings around Drexel and Penn that turn out really good IDs, and it's easy to get fooled by them," said Reikofski last night of preventing those freshmen with fake IDs from drinking at fraternity parties. College senior Andrew Exum, the former InterFraternity Council executive vice president and member of Provost Robert Barchi's committee, said the system of monitoring underage drinking at parties still needs improvement. "Throughout the semester, we've worked hard to implement the alcohol policy, but we've obviously still got a lot more to do," said Exum, a Sigma Nu brother and DP columnist. "We're going to keep critically evaluating the monitoring system," he added. Under the new policy, professional alcohol monitors are trained by newly appointed Alcohol Coordinator Stephanie Ives and are responsible for regulating Greek events. Still, members of the task force maintain that the new policy has already been overwhelmingly successful in decreasing the number of alcohol-related incidents and major problems on campus. Barchi, who appointed the task force last spring in the wake of several alcohol-related incidents -- including the March death of 1994 Penn alumnus Michael Tobin at a fraternity event -- said none of the recommendations were intended as definitive measures that would be guaranteed successes. "We've said from the beginning that we were going to try a lot of different things. We weren't wedded to anything. We were only wedded to the results," Barchi said yesterday. And the results, he added, have been thus far quite positive in terms of the task force's goal of creating more non-alcohol social options and in working toward a safer environment. "We know there have been no serious alcohol-related problems this year," Barchi said. Added Exum: "There has been a major change this fall." The recent survey revealed that about 63 percent of the interviewed freshmen said they believed Penn had enough social options for them besides fraternity parties. The task force had long emphasized its commitment to providing alternatives to drinking on the weekends. Several activities were implemented this fall with that very goal in mind, including late-night openings of Gimbel Gymnasium as well as movie screenings at the reopened Irvine Auditorium. "I am very pleased with the way that students are participating and the way activities are going," Barchi said. He pointed specifically to the sold-out crowd who turned out at Irvine on Sunday night for a concert of the University Symphony Orchestra and the University Choral Society as an example of a successful non-alcohol event that draws students.

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