Just nine days before elections for student body president and vice president are set to occur, the Student Assembly met to discuss the recently released guidelines for a revised College alcohol policy and to review the accomplishments of the Ivy Council earlier this month.
Recommendations drafted by the Ad Hoc Working Group on Alcohol Policy -- chaired by Professor Robert Binswanger -- were released last Tuesday and are designed to clarify College alcohol policy and encourage cooperation between students and administrators.
The report will be submitted to the faculty in about two weeks time, with the intervening period set aside to allow for revisions based on student suggestions.
Assembly members expressed doubts about some components of the new policy recommendations, though others cautioned that the report remains subject to change and is still a considerable distance from implementation.
A point of particular contention was the working group's recommendation advocating a new "reservation" system for social events to replace the current tiered system of "registration."Under the proposed policy, students holding a "party" -- loosely defined as a gathering of eight to 10 people -- would reserve a space with Safety and Security for any type of social event, including those in residential halls. It remains unclear how closely Safety and Security will monitor such events, though walk-throughs are not anticipated, according to several Assembly members.
"I'm a bit skeptical about expanding the role of S and S," member Bill Jaeger '02 said, who feared that the campus would come to resemble a "police state."
Karim Mohsen '03, a candidate for student body president, drew comparisons between the proposed policy and last year's announcement of the new walk-through policy, saying that the College would face only "partial resistance" to the new system over the summer months.
But Tara Maller '03 -- who is also running for student body president -- said she didn't "see this turning into a police state," while Stephanie Long '04 emphasized that the recommendations remain a "work in progress" that will receive additional clarification under future revisions.
Other members raised concerns over what punishments might be meted out if students fail to observe the the new policies, and what information Safety and Security officers will have at their disposal when enforcing the guidelines.
Members also reviewed other recommendations of the report, including proposals to train students as bartenders capable of identifying and dealing with severe intoxication.
The discussion was moderated by Assembly membersTom White '04 and Matt Oppenheimer '05, who according to Student Body President Molly Stutzman '02 "are coordinating the overall student feedback process."
Both White and Oppenheimer have met with Binswanger in the past, and will continue to participate in events and meetings to gather student reactions to the report, reactions which will then be brought before Dean of the College James Larimore.
Also featured at the meeting was a presentation by members of the Ivy Council, which was recently recognized by the Council on Student Organizations following its conference at Dartmouth during the first weekend of the month.
The Ivy Council, on the verge of collapse after a series of resignations by top members, staged a successful comeback, according to Dartmouth's head delegate Stella Treas '05.
"We not only put on a conference, we saved an organization," she said during a presentation which reviewed highlights of the meeting.
Minutes of the conference will be compiled into a comprehensive book -- which is not yet completed -- detailing the proceedings of each of the Council's discussion groups.
In election news, Alana McLaughlin '04 announced her withdrawal from student body vice presidential race, leaving Stephanie Bonan '03 and Julia Hildreth '05 to contest the position.
"The fact that I am going to be gone for most of next year meant that I wasn't actually allowed to participate," McLaughlin explained.
An event featuring speeches from each of the candidates for the two top positions as well as for the presidencies of each of the class councils will be held Thursday evening in the Tindle Lounge, during which attendees will be able to question students on their platforms.
Students will be able to cast their votes for these positions and others online -- including the Committee on Standards and the Green Key Society -- on May 1 and 2.
