Phi Delta Alpha fraternity may lose close to $4,000 because some underage students were caught drinking at an outdoor concert sponsored by the fraternity on May 13.
The Programming Board of the Student Activities Office has said it will revoke $2,900 the Co-ed Fraternity Sorority Council contributed and may take back another $1,000 because of alcohol consumption at The Meters concert outside of Phi Delt that Thursday.
The money would have helped cover the $9,000 cost of bringing the band to the campus. Phi Delt has already paid about $2,000 of the cost of the band.
The Programming Board met Monday and voted to cancel funding of The Meters concert. But representatives of the fraternity met with Linda Kennedy, the adviser to the board, yesterday afternoon and said they were confident a compromise would be reached.
Phi Delt Social Chair Jon Rosenblatt '94 said he worked closely with Kennedy to plan the concert including security to prevent alcohol consumption.
"An event of this magnitude had never been attempted before," Rosenblatt said. "Linda and I worked very closely on all points of plannning and put together what we thought was a viable security plan."
During the concert, several students were caught carrying beer in opaque squirt bottles, and others were playing beer pong on the lawns of neighboring fraternities, despite the fact that the concert was supposed to be a non-alcoholic event.
Rosenblatt said members of the fraternity did everything they thought they were required to do to prevent drinking.
"The big problem the programming board has is that we were not vigilant enough with people drinking out of closed containers like squeeze bottles and soda cans," he said.
"They believe we should have had the right to ask everybody with a closed container to sniff it or smell what was inside," he said. "We didn't think we were entitled to tell people who were showing no signs of intoxication to dump out the contents of their squeeze bottles."
Phi Delt agreed to host the event under specific guidelines required for funding from the Programming Board and the CFSC. Alcohol was forbidden on the grounds of Phi Delt and in its common areas.
"Our security wasn't lax because of neglect," Rosenblatt said. "It was lax because of a misunderstanding. Our intentions were the best and it just didn't work out we hoped."
Phi Delt had agreed to put up signs prohibiting alcohol and to provide brothers and additional hired monitors on the lawn to ensure that no alcohol was present, Kennedy said.
She said that Phi Delt did not comply with the guidelines.
Halfway through the concert, Kennedy took the microphone and asked the crowd not to drink on Phi Delt property or in the street.
The Programming Board discussed the situation on Monday and members decided to send Phi Delt a letter asking them to return the $2,900, according to Leslie Jennings '96, a board member.
"We will be asking Phi Delt for the money we had originally promised. It was voted upon ... the letter was to go out that week," Jennings said.
"The Programming Board is not satisfied with how the party went ... and we're still talking with Phi Delt about how to resolve it. Nothing is definite," Kennedy said. She said there would another meeting with the fraternity.
The $1,000 Phi Delt was given by the CFSC came from a special fund provided for non-alcoholic events open to the entire campus, according to Liz Shore '95, the president of the co-ed council.
The CFSC has not reached a decision, but will probably conduct an investigation, according to CFSC President Mark Daly '94.
Phi Delt brothers maintain they complied with the guidelines for hosting a non-alcoholic event.
"No beer was being served at Phi Delt. It's ridiculous, we held up our end of the bargain," Phi Delt Vice President Scott Mansfield '94 said.
