Task Force report clarifies University drinking policy by Anna Talman Staff Writer Dean of the College Freddye Hill formally released a report of last year’s Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Task Force’s findings; the report details the University’s efforts at improving its policy, dealing with kegs and parties on campus, and at providing to the student body late-night activities that don’t involve drug use. President Doug Bennett asked Hill to convene a task force to investigate alcohol and drug use on campus, campus policy and ways in which the administration can foster responsible attitudes toward drugs and provide alternatives to the typical “party” atmosphere. “I think we’re hurting ourselves as a community because of the abuse of alcohol,” Bennet said. The task force was comprised of 16 people and consisted of administrators, faculty, community members and five student representatives. “We broke up into three or four subcommittees to basically look at the SJB records and the Core Survey [last conducted in 1998],” said Hill, who chaired the task force. The subcommittees included: the committee on best practices that have limited the abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs and encouraged responsible behavior, the committee on alcohol and drug policies, procedures and implementation and the committee on identifying ways to foster a greater sense of community. “Alcohol and illicit drug use diminish campus life and create [a] public health risk for everyone in the community,” Hill said. She said that one of the task force’s primary concerns was to examine ways in which the University could provide alternatives to social activities centering upon alcohol or drug use. “It became glaringly clear to me that we need to make a financial commitment to increasing the number of social activities on campus [which do not hinge upon alcohol use],” Hill said. She said that although the University has a vibrant fine arts program, it needs to dramatically increase the number of programs that begin later in the evening as alternatives to drinking. “The members of the task believe increasing the number and quality of social, cultural, wellness, co-curricular and fitness programs would be an effective deterrent to the current focus on alcohol as a proxy for fun,” the report stated. The task force suggested that the WSA and Office of Student Activities and Development should work to increase the number of programs offered, and to create a University Calendar committee to solicit and publish plans for all events. It also suggested that the WSA and Programming Board should increase funding for activities, especially late at night. The task force also scrutinized drug use and drug policy on campus. One of the primary sources it examined was the Core survey report from 1998. The Core Survey is a national research survey, which was conducted at the University by Professor Karl Scheibe and student volunteers. The survey examines the alcohol and drug use and behaviors of Wesleyan students, and it compares them to students nationwide. The most recent Core Survey showed that alcohol and drug use are both statistically higher at the University than nationally. For instance, in 1998, 93.0 percent of Wesleyan students surveyed reported using alcohol in the last year, while only 85.3 percent of students nationwide drank. Nearly 66 percent of Wesleyan students had used marijuana, versus the national 44.7 percent. Another significant finding of the survey was that 81.9 percent of Wesleyan students said that they believe that the social atmosphere promotes alcohol use. Despite the panel’s intensive look at policy, according to Whaley, the Task Force findings will not, in essence, change the way drug and alcohol violations are treated at the University. “It was mainly clarification of existing policy and codification of existing SJB practice,” Whaley said. He gave as an example the practice of providing counseling help in place of disciplinary action in cases where a student had had to seek medical help. He said that the practice was standard, but is now in the student handbook. The report also clarified existing policies on kegs, noise, parental notification, drug paraphernalia and party policy. Kegs will be allowed only at registered and approved functions, and all found drug paraphernalia will be confiscated in the future, according to the report. In addition to the changes already enacted, Hill expressed that the drug and alcohol policy will be continually under scrutiny in the future. She said that the Student Life Committee of the WSA would continue to discuss alcohol and drug use and policy at length. The WSA may hold public forums to discuss policy later this semester. Hill convened the task force after Bennett released a change in the University’s policy regarding alcohol consumption. Following a party in April 2000, to which the Middletown Fire Department was summoned after a false alarm, the University’s law counsel determined that some of its the policies were maligned with Connecticut law. According to Hill, the President announced that the policy regarding alcohol consumption in residence halls was unclear and needed revision. It was widely understood, but never expressly said prior to the policy revision, that all students could drink in their rooms, but not in public spaces. The policy change outlawed underage consumption everywhere on campus. Ryan Ungaro ’04, who was a student member of the task force, agreed about the imprecision of the old policy. “As a student, I feel that Wesleyan’s current AOD policy is fair and reasonable. Its shortcoming is its lack of clarity. I do not believe that students completely understand what is a violation and what is not. And I think that is because we need to clearly delineate what is a violation and what is not a violation in the school’s alcohol and drug policy. The process to clarify the AOD policy has already started as a result of the AOD Task Force. This year’s student handbook includes a more detailed description of what constitutes a violation of policy,” Ungaro said Hill, Ungaro and Whaley all encouraged student feedback about the report and the University’s drug and alcohol policy. Whaley said that he had already received several emails about the report, and that he expects more. “If anybody has any other ideas, I hope that they’ll share them,” he said.

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