OPEN LETTER: Only the latest consultation

From Judith Rodin and Robert Barchi, "An Open Letter to the University Community" From Judith Rodin and Robert Barchi, "An Open Letter to the University Community"Students in the Daily Pennsylvanian's pages have been asking: "Why wasn't there any consultation before the University announced the suspension on alcohol at registered undergraduate parties?" The answer is simple: There was consultation -- and plenty of it. So perhaps the question should be: "Why didn't more students choose to involve themselves seriously in the issue of alcohol abuse?" · The October 1997 meeting of University Council, devoted solely to binge drinking and alcohol-related violence, which launched a campus-wide conversation on the subject. · Many sessions led by the president over the last two academic years with student leaders on the effectiveness -- or lack thereof -- of our control of alcohol abuse at Penn. · The special presidential committee of faculty, students and administrators that worked through fall 1998. It included students and invited advice. It then made recommendations on a coordinated set of initiatives to curb alcohol abuse; several have been implemented and others are under consideration. · Two columns by President Rodin in the DP encouraging student responsibility and creative action regarding alcohol. The first, on October 16, 1997, invited students to submit their suggestions to the Office of Student Life ("Binge drinking and violence must stop," DP, 8/16/97). The second, on October 8, 1998, encouraged students to start a campaign against excessive drinking called Prevention, Education, Enforcement, Responsibility, Social Enrichment, or PEERS, based on the work of the special committee on alcohol abuse ("Do you have what it takes?" DP, 8/8/98). The column urged students to submit their suggestions to peers@pobox.upenn.edu. At last check, only two students had responded. · Constant efforts by the offices of the Vice Provost for University Life, Student Health Education and Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, the Division of Public Safety and others to engage students in serious consultation about alcohol abuse. These campus-wide conversations did yield some noteworthy results. But after consulting with students about alcohol abuse for nearly two academic years, we are very much troubled that these campus-wide conversations have still not led to changing the culture of our student community. Incidents of alcohol poisoning and emergency visits to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania's ER have escalated while we consulted, and the death of Michael Tobin brings the issue into ever sharper, more painful focus. The suspension on alcohol at registered undergraduate parties and other actions announced last week were intended to give us some time to react collectively, so that we as a campus might visit the issue of alcohol abuse with a new urgency. Today, we will once again engage in the consultative process when we charge a working group of students, faculty and staff to consider immediate and substantive issues that we can address as individuals and as a community, and to recommend next steps regarding the suspension. The committee will bring its conclusions forward as they are made. We are open to your suggestions on this critical issue. In fact, we urge you to share your good ideas and pass them along to the working group. We hope that this time you will choose to join the conversation.