BYOB policy to be enforced this weekend

In response to pressure from Greek alumni, the Interfraternity Council has declared that all events this weekend will be strictly BYOB. While the University has officially maintained a Bring Your Own Beer policy for several years, it has gone relatively unenforced in the past. "The enforcement of the [alcohol] policy has not been that which the alumni had hoped for," said Greek Alumni Council Chairperson Andrea Dobin. "At this point, the alumni have not taken any affirmative steps to either change the policy itself or its enforcement, but the undergraduates understand that this may occur in the event that the status quo continues." Several fraternity presidents said last night that strictly adhering to the policy this weekend will prove to both alumni and students that the IFC is serious about enforcing the rule. In addition, it will force party-goers to get used to the BYOB concept. "I'm curious to see how this weekend will go," said Delta Kappa Epsilon President and College senior Scott Kegler. "I think it will take some time to swing into full effect -- I think the word needs to get out to the student population as a whole if BYOB is going to work." Dobin said she feels the BYOB policy can indeed be enforced at the University, but that more attention needs to be focused on policing aspects. "There have been parties that have been thrown in compliance with the policy that have been successful," Dobin said. "This works on other campuses, [so] there's no reason that it couldn't work here." Others contend that the current policy may not be enforced well because it is potentially damaging to the social life on campus. "It's unfortunate that we have to move in this direction," said Delta Tau Delta President and Wharton junior Jeff Kaplan. "It's too bad that our society is at the point that we have so many legal things to worry about [which] take away from people having fun in college." Under the current policy, three monitors -- consisting of one alumni representative, one IFC representative and one member of the Panhellenic Council -- are assigned to observe each weekend's parties and report any infractions to the Greek Peer Judicial Board. And according to IFC President and Phi Sigma Kappa brother Hayden Horowitz, that's exactly what has been happening. "The GPJB is functioning, it has heard cases and it has handed down sanctions," he said. But not everyone agrees that the current policing method is the best possible option. "I think the monitoring system probably needs some work," Kegler said. "I think they need to come up with a more effective way of policing the system if they're really going to get it to work." A new alcohol policy was first suggested in February of 1993, when it was met with immediate protests from the IFC. In September of that year, fraternity parties began to take on a distinctly different look. Party-goers had to be on guest lists, wear ID bracelets and bring their own beer. And in addition, fraternities were required to check for age identification from all students, register their parties and provide non-salty snacks and beverage alternatives to alcohol. Since then, the new policy has been questioned and criticized on several occasions. "We're feeling like we've been misunderstood," Dobin said. "We did the best we could at that time but over the last year or so we [have realized that] we didn't develop the perfect policy." Still, many people in the IFC remain optimistic about the future of the alcohol policy. "The main goal of it is really in our best interest, [but] people are under the typical college notion that beer goes along with fraternity parties," said Zeta Beta Tau President and College senior Steve Karasik. "This weekend is a good test-out -- if everyone adheres to it, and everyone goes to parties knowing it's BYOB, this weekend will be a good indication of how people will come to grips with the BYOB policy." Dobin said she appreciates the efforts of the IFC, but that the GAC will remain firm on the idea of policy enforcement. "If the policy needs to be refined, we're more than happy to refine it," she said. "[But] we're not backing down."

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