A shift in the College's party registration policy has Greek leaders worried that the current practices in determining keg allotment will leave them unable to adequately serve legal-aged guests at their parties -- let alone provide alcohol to everyone present.
The old policy allotted kegs based on how many guests the house expected throughout the night. The new policy uses head counts gathered by Safety and Security during security walkthroughs at previous events.
The changes in policy were made last winter, but the issue came to a head during the buildup to a registered party featuring a funk rock band at Phi Delta Alpha fraternity on Saturday.
The Student Activities Office initially allotted Phi Delt one keg for the event, basing its decision on the number of guests recorded at Phi Delt's previous registered events.
That one keg allotted to Phi Delt would not be enough to serve one beer per brother to the house's of-age membership and the band members hired to play at the event, and by no means to every guest at the registered party.
"Of the 43 Phi Delt members on campus this term, 28 of them are of legal drinking age," Phi Delt president Rob Freiman '05 explained in a BlitzMail message appealing Student Activities' decision on Thursday night. "Those 28 plus the members of the band, times one drink for four hours is one keg, and I can personally guarantee we will have more than zero guests."
Director of Student Activities Linda Kennedy said the new policy corresponds more closely to the actual number of people present.
"This is a practice change, not a policy change," said Kennedy. "Houses were making estimates in the 500 person capacity, but Safety and Security was recording 27 people at the time of a walk-through -- that doesn't seem sensible."
College Proctor Harry Kinne said spot counts at a given time of a party may not accurately reflect the number of people present over the course of the night, but stressed that Safety and Security has no influence over how the data that it collects is utilized.
"The number of guests at a party could vary throughout the evening, because it's only when we're there that we do the head count," Kinne said.
But the time and circumstances surrounding each registered event vary widely, Freiman said. The projected numbers of attendees for Saturday's party was based on previous events such as a Super Bowl party held on a Sunday during midterms last winter.
By the time Safety and Security had completed its second walkthrough of that event, the game was over and people had already left the event, said Freiman.
Phi Delt was eventually allotted two more kegs for its event Saturday night, but Freiman emphasized that his protest of Student Activities' decision was not about making alcohol the focus of the event, but about putting on a "successful, responsible event where people can socialize and alcohol happens to be present."
"The alcohol policy is in place so people of legal age can have safe events where alcohol is served and consumed responsibly," said Freiman. "If the alcohol policy denies people the use of alcohol, it completely defeats the purpose."
Dave Grey '05, president of the Inter-Fraternity Council, echoed Freiman.
"Instead of fostering responsible drinking I think [the Alcohol Policy] is set up to promote not drinking at all," Grey said. "I wish we could work out a policy that's more realistic with the current social scene on campus."
"Without a change in the policy I think this rash of probations will just continue," he added. "The rules are set up so that it's very hard to have a good social scene and follow rules."
Gamma Delta Chi fraternity president Andrew Rankin '05 agreed, even though Gamma Delt typically receives the maximum amount of kegs allowed for its open parties.
"Probably every house comes into the same problem," said Rankin, "On weekends like Green Key, where there are lots of alumni and friends on campus, every house is packed, and that can cause houses to think about breaking rules because the amount of alcohol allowed doesn't cover the number of people at parties."
The Social Event Management Procedure Review Committee, currently being formed by Dean of the College James Larimore, will address issues with the SEMP policy such as this one.
Comprised of five staff members, with Joe Cassidy, Associate Dean of Student Life acting as chair, and three appointed and three elected senior student members, the committee has been formed with the intent of evaluating and possibly revising the current alcohol policy in accordance with community feedback, state laws, and practices at peer institutions.
