Coed Fraternity and Sorority Council President Matt Raben '96 and Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco will lead a retreat today of 19 students and 10 administrators to discuss possible revisions of the College's alcohol policy for Greek-sponsored social events.
The "Committee to Revise CFS Social Procedures" will address the College's concerns and the changes which have been suggested by CFS leaders, student alcohol monitors and other students, Turco said.
"This is a retreat to review the CFS social procedures that were set into place two years ago," Turco said. Raben said the retreat will be the only time this committee meets.
This spring, Dean of the College Lee Pelton will charge a task force to undertake a comprehensive review of the College's alcohol policy.
Turco said the task force will look not only at CFS social procedures, but at alcohol issues in general. Today's retreat will only examine the section of the College's alcohol policy covering Greek-sponsored events involving common source alcohol.
Any suggestions or changes made at the retreat will be reviewed by the Spring-term task force and could be reversed when the task force presents its findings, Turco said.
Raben said the review committee hopes to report its findings to Pelton after the retreat.
"We hope to analyze the current system and hopefully come up with a series of recommendations for Dean Pelton on how to strengthen the system," Raben said.
Pelton said the College administration needs input as to how it should measure the effectiveness of the alcohol policy.
Turco said the committee will consider 30 student suggestions to reform the CFS social-event alcohol policy. The committee will release its findings soon the retreat, she said.
"Over the last nine months, we have been gathering information from students about how well procedures are working," Turco said. Raben said this committee will discuss revisions to the perfect two-year-old plan.
"As a new system, there were obviously going to be things that weren't perfect," Raben said. "This will be an attempt to recommend changes that will make the system better."
Pelton said one goal of the retreat will be to look at the problems of underage drinking and gender issues which arise due to alcohol consumption. The committee will also look at the charge and composition of the College Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs, he added.
Participants will also discuss the establishment of a primarily student run task force to look at the alcohol policy, Pelton said.
The committee will examine all aspects of the CFS social procedures, Pelton said, including education, safety and monitoring.
"One of the things the committee has to do is try to understand the magnitude of the problems with the procedures and what we need to do [to address them]," Pelton said.
