Summary of the GU Alcohol Policy Working Group
Wednesday, February 15 2008
Findings of the 2006 Campus Health survey (self-reported) were presented, which is the latest available survey of drinking behaviors at Georgetown.
The mean number of drinks consumed (last time socialized) in 2006 was: 6 for men, 4.8 for women, and the overall mean was 4.5. This represents a decline in all categories from 2004, when the figures were approx. 6.6/men, 5/women, and 5/overall.
In 2006, in response to the number of times a student has consumed 5 or more drinks in one sitting in a two week period (responses from 2004 bracketed), the numbers were: None: 51% (43% 2004); 1-2 times: 25% (27% 2004), 3-5 times: 19% (24% 2004), 6+ times: 4% (4% 2004). The numbers have declined across the board from 2004 to 2006.
Health survey being taken this semester – results will not be available until next semester.
Residence Life presented the following statistics for persons found responsible for the following violations (note, citations may overlap, e.g. a student may be cited for both alcohol in an alcohol free dorm and possession/consumption of alcohol). Numbers do not reflect students cited for the violations who were ultimately not found responsible.
| Type of Violation | Fall '06 | Fall '07 |
| Code of Conduct | 301 | 282 |
| Alcohol in Alcohol Free Dorm | 309 | 201 |
| Possession/Consumption of Alc. | 326 | 212 |
| Unauthorized Keg | 3 | 19 (did not start until October) |
| Noise (general) | 359 | 192 |
| Quiet Hour Disturbance | 235 | 166 |
| Incivility | 10 | 3 |
| Disorderly Conduct | 30 | 25 |
Discussion ensued: Is campus quieter (i.e. fewer violations) because people are going off-campus? Or are violations unreported because students are taking measures to hide drinking? Or has stricter rules resulted in fewer parties being had overall?
Noted that the numbers above are only a snapshot – long-term trends cannot reliably be assessed yet.
Look into number of off-campus writeups? Suggested to contact Chuck Van Sant for numbers.
Noted that the Citizens Association of Georgetown is receiving/making many complaints of increased numbers of students partying off-campus.
Noted from students that, anecdotally, parties are getting quieter and more discrete. Many underage students are drinking hard alcohol in their dorms, going to bars.
Moved to discussion of party training program.
In old system, RAs physically needed to get list of students signed up for parties from DPS office – it was not emailed to them, and it was very ineffective.
New party registration policy: need to undergo party host training. 15 sessions in fall, 7 in spring – at least once per month. Students only need to go once in their entire Georgetown career – once attended, you do not need to re-go, even if it's a different class year.
374 went as of February 13, 2008. Survey being taken soon to assess student opinions on effectiveness of party training program.
Topics covered in party training: how to be a responsible host, what to do if things get out of hand, RAs are there to help, etc.
Moved to discussion of a party host suggestion:
A 21-year-old could act as 'sponsor' in the case of no students in an apartment/townhouse being over 21. That sponsor would be subject to the same duties as the other party hosts, and would share the responsibility if something goes wrong and/or rules are violated. The objective being to encourage parties which occur in such apartments/townhouses to register legally, which allows RAs and DPS keep better informed of the situation.
Proposal roundly critiqued: Goes beyond permitting underage drinking to actively encouraging and supporting it. An apartment of students who are all under 21 are highly likely to have party guests who are all under 21. Georgetown has an obligation to shut these parties down if it finds out about them, not allow them.
Moved to discussion of party registration.
Currently, all parties must be registered by 10 AM Thursday for the weekend (and following week up to the next Wednesday night). Students notified later in the day if their registration is allowed. Students may register as far in advance as they wish, and register for every night of every week, but the decision to allow parties are made that week and not in advance.
Why would a party be refused registration?
“Block parties” -- if there are several parties in one stairwell or row of townhouses, involves increased traffic and noise.
Too many parties going on at once – priority generally given to those who haven't yet thrown party (so if it's your 4th party on a crowded night, and another student is throwing their 1st, likely for the latter to get approved over the former)
Party hosts have not attended mandatory party training, or students are on housing probation.
Why is the deadline 10 AM Thursday?
Stated that Thursday – Saturday is generally considered the 'weekend' at Georgetown, so better to start at the beginning of the weekend.
Stated that DPS needs to be informed of the number of parties that are happening in advance to prepare. This is related to their staffing needs. i.e. if there are a large number of events on campus and a large number of registered parties, more staff may need to be brought in or existing staff redeployed.
Why 10 AM? Staff needs to manually download spreadsheets, cross-check names, and confirm, which can potentially take some time. Does not need to be at 10 AM, but needs to be reasonably early to get back approvals in time.
Why just Thursday? Why not Friday, Saturday as well?
Owing to the work required, Residence Life staff are reluctant to do it more than once per week. Also, staff don't normally work on Saturdays, making party approval that day problematic.
Discussion ensued: It is clear that the 10 AM Thursday registration is not capturing all the parties that are happening. Additionally, many people are registering for parties 'just in case' – meaning that the numbers of actual approved parties may be inaccurate and inflated.
The old, cumbersome system of registration was found to only capture 10% of the actual parties on campus, defeating the purpose of registration (to allow RAs and DPS to ensure that students are partying in a safe manner, and to be there in case anything goes awry).
If this system does not capture a significant percentage of the actual parties going on, it is not an effective system and needs to be streamlined to encourage more people to register.
Counterpoint: Students can still have parties, they just run the risk of being written up. Failing to register a party, additionally, is not an alcohol violation.
Response: If purpose of party registration is to notify DPS and RAs so as to ensure a safer party environment, having unregistered parties does not help and in fact hinders this purpose. Also, if many students decide to register every weekend for every week, so as to never to accidentally miss a party if they want to have one on one weekend, the system will grossly inflate the number of parties actually happening, equally unhelpful to RAs, DPS and to those actually holding parties who may be denied because others have used 'placeholder' registration.
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.
Have a party registration database that checks if hosts are 21 and have attended party training. Students are automatically added once they turn 21. If either condition is not met, the student is not allowed to register. In this way, all Residence Life staff has to do is see if there are too many parties happening in close proximity – which should only take a few minutes. In this way, registration can be moved up later and can be done Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
If only one day can be chosen, move the party registration process to Friday, because many people forget the Thursday deadline, or don't decide until Friday that they want to have a party.
Move the party registration process up a few hours, which still gives time for Residence Life staff to complete the process and get back to students in time. Increases the amount of students who register, improving percentage of actual parties reported.
No comments:
Post a Comment