Summary of GU Alcohol Policy Working Group
Thursday, January 24 2008
Meetings will alternate between Wednesdays/Thursdays to allow all members to attend.
Next meeting will take place on Wednesday, February 13 and will discuss the Party Notification policy.
The APWG was given a history of the Disciplinary Review Committee's recommendation to Dr. Olson, the Vice-President of Student Affairs, last fall to ban all kegs:
The original policy in place from approximately 2002/3–Fall 2007 was to allow up to two kegs.
The DRC is comprised of four students (two GUSA appointees and two appointees by Dr. Olson), the Associate VP for Student Affairs, Director of Student Conduct, Director of ResLife, Assistant Director of Student Conduct and three faculty/staff members. Voting is by majority.
After the recommendation by the DRC, several town hall meetings and meetings with members of GUSA and other student bodies, Dr. Olson ultimately decided not to adopt the DRC's recommendation of a total ban, but instead limit kegs to one per residential unit.
Why did the DRC decide to recommend to ban kegs? Three main reasons.
DRC members contested that Georgetown University is one of the few universities in the United States that even allow kegs on campus.
Kegs encourage “last call drinking” at the end of the night, where if a keg is not empty at the end of the night, students are encouraged to finish it, because once opened kegs have a short shelf-life. This is different from cans of beer, where if at the end of the night cans are left over, students are not compelled to drink it to avoid spoiling.
Dividing the number of people legally allowed to be at a party (25 in Henle / Village B, up to 80 in Village A / Townhouses if outside is included) by the number of beers in a keg (165 12 oz. beers) works out to a high number of beers per person (6 per person in Henle / Village B). Thus, kegs 'inherently' encourage binge drinking.
Actual data of student drinking rates, as gathered from scientific studies conducted each year at Georgetown, finds that:
82% of Georgetown students drink
18% do not.
70% of students report that they drink 5 drinks or less on an average night. (1 drink = 1 12 oz. beer, 1 glass of wine, or 1 shot of hard alcohol)
30% of students report they drink more than 5 beers more than once in a two week period – this has been traditionally defined as 'high risk drinking.' Studies show that high risk drinking at universities is positively correlated with sexual assaults, property damage, etc.
Reports from GERMS indicate, however, that in almost all circumstances where students are GERMed, hard alcohol consumption is the cause, not beer.
The Committee then moved to discussion of the one keg limit. Arguments will be grouped into “arguments for keeping the one keg limit as is, or banning kegs” and “arguments in favor of increasing the keg limit.”
N.B. Simply because an argument is on this list, on either side, does not indicate any endorsement one way or the other. We want to list all arguments that were made in favor or opposed to the keg limit and allow readers to judge for themselves.
| Arguments for Limiting Kegs | Arguments for Increasing Kegs |
| With more than one keg out at one time, more people have easier access to kegs and drinking. | Kegs effectively limit consumption: lines around kegs greatly slow down the number of drinks students have. |
| Pregaming is not exacerbated by keg limits; it doesn't matter whether kegs are numerous or banned. | The pregaming scene increases when kegs are limited, because students expect less access to alcohol and therefore drink more to make up for it. |
| “Last Call” drinking (see #2 on DRC) | Instead of finishing the keg in one night, students generally opt to hold smaller parties on subsequent nights to finish the keg. |
| Fosters an environment encouraging binge drinking (See #3 on DRC) | Binge drinking hasn't changed since the keg limit has gone into effect; clearly a keg ban does not address the underlying problems. |
| Very few universities allow kegs on campus (see #1 on DRC) | While many campuses have banned kegs, several of Georgetown's peer institutions have overturned their previous keg bans, finding them ineffective -- these include Harvard, Princeton, BC, GWU, Dartmouth and others. Also, in many campuses that have banned kegs on-campus, various off-campus social areas exist (e.g., fraternities or simply a large portion of students living off-campus) that mitigate the influence of an on-campus keg ban, whereas in Georgetown most students live on-campus where a keg ban would affect social life more acutely. |
| The one keg limit encourages smaller, more manageable parties. | While this is true to an extent, the decreased amount of beer means that hosts are far more likely to turn away more and more people away from parties. This has extremely deleterious effects on Georgetown's unique social scene, as parties become more 'exclusive,' and students are forced to move off-campus or to bars, which pose safety risks. |
| | If kegs are banned, or one keg which generally runs out early, students will exit for other parties, usually drunk, which is a safety concern. |
| | Hard alcohol consumption will increase to make up for keg limits, which is far more dangerous and hard to control. |
| | Resorting to cans actually increases alcohol consumption, because students do not have to wait in line but can instead immediately get cans. Students can also “shot-gun” beers, drawing safety concerns. |
| | A keg ban increases an overall feeling of isolation, especially for underclassmen. With more exclusive parties, students are increasingly cut off from access, and therefore an ability to meet fellow Hoyas, and in-room pregaming in response to smaller parties poses and safety risk. |
Suggestions
N.B. No suggestions have been formally voted on. They do not necessarily represent the majority opinion of the committee; they are only offered to inform students what ideas committee members are proposing.
Allow “What's After Dark” programming to allow the sponsorship of alcoholic events. This way, DPS could check IDs to make sure only those of legal age are allowed in, and bartenders or hosts serving alcohol can monitor consumption to make sure individuals do not become dangerously intoxicated.
Sponsor other alcoholic events that help students learn how to handle alcohol consumption post-college, e.g. a seminar on how to conduct themselves with alcohol during business parties, or a wine-tasting seminar.
Increase the keg limit back to two, but only allow one keg to be on tap at once.
Increase the keg limit back to two for Village As and townhouses, where the increased backyard or rooftop space allows it, but keep the one-keg limit for Henle and Village B.
Sponsor a bartender course at Georgetown, where students can become certified to serve alcohol at parties (could be used in After Dark programming events, for example).
