Penn takes a hard look at alcohol use

University officials were forced to re-evaluate Penn's alcohol policy this past semester after a series of alcohol-related incidents — including the death of 26-year-old Penn alumnus and Phi Gamma Delta brother Michael Tobin — rocked the campus community.

Following a weekend highlighted by several alcohol-related incidents, officials decided to place a temporary ban on alcohol at official undergraduate events, while charging an alcohol task force to review the existing alcohol policy and create a new permanent one.

Official events include most fraternity parties, as well as events organized by student groups that receive funding from the University.

In addition to the ban, officials announced that there would be an increased police presence at Spring Fling and Skimmer -- a campus party on the banks of the Schuylkill River -- and requested that local bars, restaurants and alcohol suppliers concur with Penn's alcohol policies, promising to sanction those who breached the existing alcohol policies.

The policy changes -- which prompted an angry response from students across campus who said they were not adequately consulted about the change and that the policy would push drinking to less-safe venues -- were spurred mostly by the death of Tobin, who was found March 21 behind the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house at 3619 Locust Walk. Police discovered that Tobin died after a night of heavy drinking before and during a FIJI alumni event.

That same weekend, a freshman girl was hospitalized for an alcohol-related illness and state police raided two downtown sorority parties, handing out approximately 30 citations for underage drinking.

And with at least 15 students hospitalized during the year for alcohol-related illnesses, officials decided they needed to change Penn's campus culture.

Come September, students will likely see a stricter alcohol policy in place, stemming from the recommendations of the alcohol task force, which was chaired by Provost Robert Barchi and composed of 14 student leaders and seven faculty members. The task force met at least once or twice a week for five weeks to discuss alcohol policy issues.

On April 27, the committee submitted its recommendations to University President Judith Rodin, calling for several key changes to the existing alcohol policy, including a ban on hard alcohol at all registered undergraduate events, a stipulation that alcohol distribution end at 1 a.m. at those parties and increased monitoring of official parties to cut down on underage drinking.

The recommendations also suggest the creation of a vast range of new educational programming and the development of non-alcoholic social options on campus.

Rodin has asked for response from the community on the task force's recommendations, which she must still approve before they go into effect.

During the final five weeks of the semester, when the ban was in effect, students attacked Rodin and the administration for not consulting them over the decision to temporarily ban alcohol at undergraduate events.

The outrage culminated in the largest Penn student rally of the 1990s, when approximately 1,000 students gathered on College Green to protest the new alcohol regulations and student leaders decried the lack of consultation before enacting the policy.

Many reserved particular ire for Rodin, with students yelling expletives at her, holding signs comparing her administration to the Nazis and even burning her in effigy. Rodin countered student claims of a lack of consultation by citing efforts over the previous two years to engage students in discussions around ways to prevent alcohol abuse.

But despite the student uproar, the ban held, severely affecting the festivities of Spring Fling and Skimmer and the general mood on campus.

Although the committee originally planned to lift the ban before the annual weekend of Spring Fling, its recommendations were not in place before the April 16 weekend. Instead, the working group created additional non-alcoholic programming for Fling, such as late night barbecues and a pancake breakfast.

And despite administrative attempts to provide students with non-alcoholic options, the weekend's events sent six students to the hospital with alcohol-related illnesses and 16 received citations for liquor law violations.

Indeed, many students pointed out that because the activities of the weekend were held in private off-campus parties instead of large on-campus fraternity parties -- which traditionally are a hallmark of Fling -- alcohol abuse was actually more rampant and unsafe than in previous years.

Rodin said that once she decides which recommendations to implement, they will receive full University support and funding.

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