Friday, November 13, 2009
The debate to change alcohol policy at KU is in its home stretch.
Next Wednesday, the alcohol subcommittee, charged to investigate current alcohol policy at the University and how to prevent alcohol abuse, will submit a full report to Student Rights Standing Committee. Emily Williams, Chair of the committee, said it was important to realize that the goal of the committee was not to ban drinking alcohol altogether. Instead, the committee was to combat alcohol abuse, such as drinking to the point of blacking out.
Since Sept., the sub-committee has analyzed the current policy in-depth. Recently, the committee held a vote deciding whether to change alcohol policy at all. Instead, there was a 4-4 tie. For the sake of fairness, the committee will present arguments for both sides on Wednesday, as well as some additional recommendations from previous discussion.
A large component of the recommendations came from responses in the student survey. So far, approximately 1,400 students have filled out the survey. The survey will be available through Dec.
All of the answers from the surveys so far will be presented at the Student Rights Standing Committee, as well. Williams said it was important that all ideas for combating alcohol abuse should be discussed at the meeting. Representation from students has been a problem throughout the semester.
“We had a lot of good discussion, but at the most, we were ten students,” she said of the past alcohol meetings.
Williams estimated less than five non-senators ever attended the meetings, which made it difficult to determine the student voice. She said the survey helped to provide more feedback.
Other recommendations came from discussion during the sub-committee meetings. These recommendations were discussed and given favorable or unfavorable votes by the subcommittee members. Favorable recommendations include increased advertising for alcohol resources on campus; increased funding to Counseling and Psychological Services; asking PRE 101, a college orientation class, to discuss responsible drinking and how to respond to alcohol-related emergencies; and providing university-sponsored programs that promote responsible drinking, such as wine and cheese parties or beer gardens for students 21 and older. Williams suggested this recommendation as a chance to teach drinking etiquette in professional settings.
“Most of us will be in a situation in our lives when we’re networking with a beverage in our hands,” she said. “I think, especially for the juniors and seniors who are fighting an uphill battle in the job force right now, maybe that’s an appropriate avenue to discuss responsible drinking.”
Two aspects of current alcohol policy were discussed heavily during meetings and in the survey: amnesty and parental notification. Ultimately, the committee voted to keep the current amnesty policy, citing that providing amnesty to all parties involved would encourage alcohol abuse without consequences and providing it to no one would deter underage students from calling for help.
One particular recommendation regarding parental notification was strongly supported by all committee members—to let students decide whether their parents would be notified at all for alcohol policy violations. Currently, a student’s parents are contacted after the second alcohol violation. Chris Kaufman, vice chair and graduate student, suggested that the parental notification option be presented to students at orientation, with parents in a different room.
“They’d say, ‘Students, this is your choice. If you want your parents to be notified on certain violations, you can,’” Kaufman said. “And then to the parents, they’d say, ‘Your kids are making this decision. It’s their decision. They’re in college and they’re adults.’ After that, it’s the parents’ decision whether they want to have a family dispute at home.”
While most of the committee’s focus has been within the University, Marlesa Roney, Vice Provost for Student Success, said the recommendations were still a starting point for the whole community.
“I think that the work this group has done has provided a broad set of recommendations that could be used by multiple groups,” Roney said.
Whether to change the current student housing policy and Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities will also be addressed at Wednesday’s meeting.
For those who haven’t completed the survey or would like to offer further personal recommendations to the sub-committee, send an e-mail to rightssubcomm@ku.edu.
— Edited by Megan Morriss
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