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From Dina Bass', "No Loss for Words," Fall '99 From Dina Bass', "No Loss for Words," Fall '99It looks like Penn was going for the in loco parentis approach this weekend with regard to the amount of alcohol students of age could bring into Penn dorms. Well at least they got the loco part right. In my own dorm, Hamilton House, policies governing undergraduate possession of alcohol changed daily, with some Spectaguards simply encouraging students to hide alcohol in their bookbags so they didn't have to confiscate it. Going into Fling, the policy was the same as it always had been -- those over 21 could bring alcohol into their rooms. Students were not even sent an e-mail reminding them of the policies, let alone advising them of changes. However, on Thursday, students entering the building were told they could only bring in up to two bottles of spirits. A student who asked when the new policy began and why students were not notified was told by a police officer: "We are making this stuff up as we go along." Despite the hard alcohol limit, on Thursday beer was still free game. By Friday, that too had changed. A friend of mine, along with our faculty master, watched in a combination of dismay and amusement as a quartet of 21 year-old students was made to disassemble a case of beer. Since each student was entitled to import only six beers a piece into Hamilton, the students were told they could each take a six-pack and swipe their cards. The boys could then pass the now-empty case across the lobby barrier and begin to reassemble the case on the other side. Midway through the process the boys realized that since there were four of them, they could all carry the case in at once, one at each corner and symbolically in possession of six bottles of beer. That procedure led the faculty master to declare that this was the "stupidest" thing he had ever seen. According to my bewildered friend, he continued to explain in the elevator that policies like this encourage students to disrespect University rules. Throughout the day, one could find legal drinkers with a couple of Heinekens in their pocket, bringing beer in a few at a time. A junior entering High Rise East had over a hundred dollars of someone else's alcohol confiscated because he was carrying it for a friend with a bad back. The student was also cited and told that if his friend tried to redeem his lost property, he too would be cited. Throughout the week, several students were encouraged by Spectaguards to hide alcohol in bookbags because the guards had not yet been ordered to check those. Well, our faculty master certainly got it right. This type of behavior does not inspire a great deal of respect for University rules. How can students respect rules that authority figures tell them are being made up? I don't think the University ought be regulating the purchase of alcohol by legal adults at all, although they have a right to do so in University dorms. But when the policies are enforced in such a clownish manner, by forcing students not to cut down on their alcohol purchases but simply to run a constant 10-man supply line in the door of High Rise North, they don't inspire much confidence. To top it all off, the policies changed daily and were not advertised to students until Saturday. The fact that no one knew about the rules until they violated them leads one to believe that they were being "made up" with very little thought and had the additional effect of making sure that these rules had no effect on student alcohol purchases. If an alcohol limit is to have any effect at all, students must know about it before they go to the liquor store. Yes, Penn has the right to change the housing rules at any time. It says so in my housing agreement. But this Fling showed a fundamental disrespect for student rights and a failure to treat us like adult members of the University community. As such, we should have a right not only to be consulted in decisions concerning us, but, at the absolute minimum, to be notified of the rules governing our behavior. No student should be met at the entrance to their dorm by a group of Keystone Kops wielding a list of rules they claim to have "made up as they went along."

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