JOKE ISSUE/U. to breathalyze in Quad for Fling

Officials will check students' blood-alcohol levels in the Quad to enforce new rules. With no end in sight to the administration's "temporary" measures designed to cut down on campus drinking, University Police Chief Maureen Rush announced yesterday that University Police officers will breathalyze all students going in and out of the Quadrangle during Spring Fling. All students under 21 years of age who fail the breathalyzer tests will receive citations for underage drinking and will be required to attend two five-hour lectures on the dangers of alcohol abuse, Rush said. Also, Rush said, officers from the state Liquor Control Enforcement bureau will be roving through the Quad all weekend, seizing open containers that they believe contain alcohol. "Putting an end to underage drinking and alcohol abuse is the important issue here," Provost Robert Barchi said. "Whether or not students have fun at Fling is minor in comparison." Barchi met with University Police officials, Philadelphia Police and LCE agents yesterday to finalize alcohol policy enforcement plans for Spring Fling. The three groups will work together, as they have in previous years during Fling, to patrol the campus during the event. "Students over 21 can get as drunk as they want to, as far as I'm concerned," said one LCE agent who asked to remain anonymous. "It's the underage ones that we're after. They're breaking the law and we can't let that continue." Rush, who drew criticism last fall for trying to stop students from taking down the Franklin Field goal post after the football team won the Ivy championship, said she thinks the breathalyzers will be unpopular with students but effective in terms of curbing underage drinking. "This will certainly lower the number of underage students who drink excessively during the weekend and then require medical attention," said Rush, who added that she thinks the number of citations given during Spring Fling will skyrocket because of the added enforcement measures. In past years, however, the number of citations for underage drinking has been declining. Last year there were 19 citations giving, down from 25 the year before and and 180 in 1996. Barchi said he was not concerned that the number of citations might be exceedingly high. "Our primary concern is the health and well-being of all of our students and colleagues. I cannot emphasize that enough," Barchi said. Student leaders were furious at the move, saying that officials should have consulted them before deciding to enforce further the policy that they had already failed to consult them about when they announced it. A rally to protest the announcement is scheduled for later this week.