Drug task force combats underage drinking

The Alcohol and Other Drug Task Force held a special meeting yesterday afternoon so administrators and students could plan a strategy for combatting recent excesses in underage drinking. "We can make a difference," Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum said to open the meeting. "There is still more work to be done." The session came two weeks after three freshman Quadrangle residents were taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania with alcohol poisoning. Members of the task force saw the hospitalizations as a call to action. The task force formed in the spring of 1991, when there was a notable increase in the alcohol-related incidents on campus. It has met monthly since then, bringing about a revision of the University policy governing alcohol and a myriad of new educational programs. Most of yesterday's meeting focused on a new program to collect information about the abuse of alcohol and other drugs on campus. Task force members hope the program will shed insight onto where the focal points are for problematic drinking. The program's "Alcohol and other Drug Referral System" calls for University Police or resident advisors to notify the Office of the VPUL when they observe students violating the University's drug or alcohol policy. Violations can be any incident when students are using alcohol in a way that is creating risk to themselves and others, according to Liz Droz, a staff psychologist at Counseling and Psychological Services. The Drug and Alcohol Resource Team also presented the task force with its agenda for educating undergraduates, with an eye toward preventing alcohol or drug abuse. DART President Jordan Greenbaum, a College senior, detailed the organization's work with freshmen this fall. The group ran a table at CUPID and held numerous workshops during New Student Orientation and in freshman dorms. Throughout the year, DART members will meet with athletic groups as well as sororities and fraternities, Greenbaum said. Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director Scott Reikofski led the task force through the InterFraternity Council's recent proposals on how fraternities can crack down on underage drinking at parties. The IFC announced the plan last week in response to several raids of parties by agents of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Enforcement Board. The five-point program to decrease alcohol and drug abuse throughout the Greek system includes education and a partnership between fraternities and University officials. Reikofski pointed out that fraternities are legally liable for everything that occurs in their houses, including alcohol poisoning at parties. In closing the meeting, Assistant VPUL Barbara Cassel told the task force she was proud to see a "bonafide plan in place" to begin the move against alcohol and drug abuse at the University.