Alcohol task force members to hold open forum today

The 14 students on the task force will seek student opinion tonight at 8 p.m. in Logan Hall. The 14 student members of the provost-appointed alcohol task force are holding an open forum tonight in Logan Hall's Room 17 at 8 p.m. The meeting -- which is open to all University students -- is intended to provoke further discussion about the administration's recent temporary ban on alcohol at all registered undergraduate events. Outgoing Undergraduate Assembly Chairperson Bill Conway, a Wharton junior and member of the panel, said he hopes to "get a better idea of the range of student opinion and some possible ideas for a plan to control abusive drinking" from tonight's forum. And panel member Jeffrey Snyder, a Wharton senior and the InterFraternity Council's former vice president for rush, said the task force is "looking for more dialogue." "If there are students out there who have ideas that we haven't heard yet, we want to hear them," he said. Tonight's event marks the second occasion in as many weeks that all University students have been given an opportunity to speak out -- either in support of or against -- the new alcohol policy. Last week, between 800 and 1,000 undergraduates attended a rally on College Green to protest the new alcohol policy. During the event, students attacked members of the administration for taking away alcohol without first consulting the student body. But panel members stressed that the forum will be more organized than last week's rally and hopefully more productive. Tangible Change Committee Chairperson Samara Barend, a College senior who is also a member of the task force, is encouraging students to come to tonight's event with "well-thought out, conceived ideas," explaining that the administration will likely be more receptive to students' substantive suggestions rather than their purely emotional responses. Former Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Chairperson Sanjay Udani, a sixth-year doctoral student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and a panel member, also hopes that students will spend more time tonight contemplating potential solutions and alternatives than on attacking the administration. "There will be people there who'll be there just to yell and scream and there'll be people there who actually have good suggestions," said Udani, a graduate associate in Hill College House. Conway said he expects "a lot of bickering" among the forum's participants, but claimed that such a reaction is only natural. "Students are irritated about this and they should be. I think that'll come out." The open forum was initially proposed by the student task force members at last Tuesday's meeting, according to Snyder. "We had all agreed that it was important to have as much student input as possible," Snyder said. Although the event's planners are expecting a good turnout, they were not sure exactly how many students would attend the forum. "We'd like to fill the room," Snyder said. "We'd like to hear from as many students as possible." Barend worried that the forum's attendance might be lower than expected because of comedienne Ellen DeGeneres' appearance tonight in the Zellerbach Auditorium -- also scheduled for 8 p.m. After tonight's forum, the panel members plan to take some of the students' proposals back to the entire task force -- comprised of 19 students, faculty members and administrators, including Provost Robert Barchi. "The administration is not going to lift the ban until something is put in its place" Conway said, expressing optimism that substantial ideas might come from this meeting.