UA funds alcohol-education program

Working to foster a responsible drinking environment across campus, the Undergraduate Assembly will now allocate money from its discretionary fund to defray the cost of a popular alcohol education program for new members of Greek organizations and interested non-Greeks. The Training for Intervention Procedures program -- developed in 1982 to teach bars and restaurants how to prevent clients from drinking irresponsibly -- has been offered primarily to fraternity presidents, social chairs and risk management chairs at Penn since the fall of 1996. Since then, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs has trained nearly 800 students in the InterFraternity Council, Panhellenic Council and the BiCultural InterGreek Council. In the past, however, Greek chapters or individual Greek members have paid for the training. Now, the UA is providing $5,600 from its $30,000 discretionary fund to subsidize part of the $13 TIPS materials cost for pledges and interested non-Greeks, according to UA Greek Life Chairperson and IFC Vice President for Academics Andrew Mandelbaum. As a result of the new funding, 700 people can undergo training at a rate of $5 per person this spring, said Mandelbaum, a College sophomore. "The UA's discretionary fund specifically used to sponsor the TIPS training program gets to the heart of the intended purpose for which the fund was established," said UA Vice Chairperson Michael Bassik, a College sophomore and Zeta Beta Tau brother, stressing that the purpose of the fund is to "subsidize costs for the individual Greek houses." OFSA Assistant Director Tom Carroll said OFSA's goal is to reach 500 of the roughly 700 new Greeks from February to April through TIPS training, adding that TIPS is available to the entire campus but is targeted toward individual Greek chapters. OFSA trains approximately 30 people in each TIPS session. Trainees watch an interactive video and participate in discussion before culminating their three-year TIPS certification with a test. Several national Greek organizations, including the Sigma Phi Epsilon and Phi Sigma Kappa fraternities, reduce risk management insurance and liability insurance rates for chapters that complete the 2 1/2-hour training, according to Carroll. However, Carroll pointed out that the alcohol-related death of Massachusetts Institute of Technology student Scott Krueger transpired at a TIPS-trained brotherhood. The chapter "chose not to utilize" TIPS skills, he said. "We challenge the students to be responsible [at Penn]." Carroll noted that the message OFSA is promoting through TIPS is that "you don't need to drink yourselves to death on chapter time and chapter property."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.