University of Pennsylvania President Judith Rodin lifted the five-week alcohol ban after receiving the final report from the alcohol task force that recommended safer uses of alcohol and expanded social options.
The task force's 10-page report recommends that no hard alcohol be allowed at registered on-campus parties, and that alcohol distribution at registered undergraduate events end at 1 a.m., along with other recommendations.
"I think this policy is going to lead to substantive change in respect to curbing alcohol abuses," Wharton senior and task force member Jeffrey Snyder said.
The temporary ban on alcohol, imposed immediately after the death of Penn alumnus Michael Tobin '94, triggered protests from much of the University's student body. However, task force member and Penn sophomore Michael Bassik said the ban faciliatated a much-needed review of the alcohol policy.
The task force recommendations, officially given to Rodin on Monday this week, was broken into five subsets: Education, Ensuring a Supportive Environment, Responsibility and Accountability, Minimizing Risk and Social Options.
In addtion to the changes in alcohol policy, the committee recommended more reliable alcohol counseling and increased education, including an Alcohol 101 CD-ROM, which will be sent to pre-freshmen.
The task force also proposed many alternative social options that will be available until 2 a.m., seven days a week, such as an expanded gymnasium, a bowling alley, a pool hall and a late night video store.
Bassik said Rodin told the task force Wednesday she was "very pleased" with the committee's recommendations.
The recommendations compiled by the committee will not radically alter campus life, but the proposed changes will have a positive effect on student life, Bassik said.
"It's nothing new. It's not something so drastic. It's basically enforcement of old rules," he said, but added: "it's a step forward in changing campus culture and showing that alcohol is not the only way to have fun at Penn."
Bassik said the task force's recommendations were only a first step in the process of altering the alcohol culture at Penn.
"Just because we finished this document does not mean that we are nearly finished with working to change campus culture," he said. "This will be accompanied by many other steps to decrease alcohol abuse at Penn."
Rodin is currently in the process of reviewing the recommendations set forth by the committee, and is hoping to receive community input before she makes her final decision about Penn's future alcohol policy on June 30.
Since the death of Tobin and the imposition of the alcohol ban, the task force has been hard at work, Snyder said.
"When the Working Group on Alcohol Abuse was charged by President Rodin on March 30, it took its charge very seriously and committed itself to work hard and long to come up with a set of recommendations," Provost Robert Barchi, who chaired the task force, told Penn's University Council Wednesday.
Snyder said the task force had a wide variety of students on it who could add different perspectives to the discussions.
"We started out by openly discussing alcohol -- discussing the problem as we saw it," he said.
He said the group quickly determined that alcohol was not a Greek problem, but a campus-wide issue.
"It wasn't the committee's goal to prevent drinking, but to encourage the responsible use of alcohol and to prevent incidents that are harmful to the health, safe and welfare of the student body," he said.
After the committee discussed the issue of alcohol and its role on campus, it split into subcommittees that gathered suggestions, he said.
Barchi said the proposal will "create an opportunity for the next class of Penn students to experience a campus that is both fun and safe, and one in which students themselves are demonstrating a much higher commitment to taking care of one another."
According to Bassik, student response to the task force's recommendations has been strong.
He said that in only 12 hours after releasing the policy, a website the task force established received over 300 hits.
