Responding to the administration's recent ban on alcohol at undergraduate parties, a task force composed of 20 administrators and student leaders at the University of Pennsylvania is in the midst of analyzing the university's current alcohol policy and creating a new one.
According to Undergraduate Assembly Vice Chair Michael Bassik, the administration did not intend to ban alcohol permanently from parties, but wanted to prompt discussion about the university's current alcohol policy and make clear the need to alter it. The ban will end when the new alcohol policy is instated.
"We're not dealing with drinking per se, but excessive and abusive drinking," Bassik said.
University President Judith Rodin and Provost Robert Barchi were responding to a variety of incidents when they announced the ban, particularly the alcohol-related death of Penn alumnus Michael Tobin and the increase in the number of students who have been hospitalized due to alcohol abuse.
He said a freshman was hospitalized after drinking too much on the same weekend as Tobin's death, and two sorority parties were "busted" by liquor control enforcement agents for underage drinking.
"The university said, 'let's put on the brakes, take a step back, and take a good look at the current alcohol policy,'" Bassik said.
The task force met for the first time last week -- an hour after more than 1,000 Penn students held a rally protesting the ban led by the chair of the Undergraduate Assembly -- and it will continue to meet twice a week until it has created a new policy.
Bassik said the atmosphere on the Philadelphia campus is calmer than it was last week, although students are worried about the possibility of losing long-standing Penn traditions, such as typical fraternity parties and alcohol-related traditions at the upcoming Spring Fling.
"Students are concerned that their voices have been ignored," Bassik said. "However, they are hopeful that the task force will be able to create a policy that is in their best interests."
Bassik said about 30 percent of the university's undergraduates are members of the Greek system, but most students, affiliated and unaffiliated, support it.
A recent poll by The Daily Pennsylvanian placed student opposition to the ban at 79 percent with 94 percent saying the new restrictions will not cause them to drink less.
Although the Undergraduate Assembly plans on taking a leading position as the students' voice on the matter, Bassik said the organization is not in session again until the end of the month, due to the Assembly's election process.
As a result, the task force, which includes some Assembly leaders, is currently the most involved with the alcohol policy changes.
The task force is keeping the details of its meetings private in order to facilitate open and candid discussions among its members, Bassik said.
Last weekend at Pennsylvania was uneventful, Bassik said. Many students went home for Easter and Passover.
