EDITORIAL: Deciding on a new policy

Penn needs to determine the new alcohol policy and inform students before the next academic year begins. It is Penn's alcohol policy. The alcohol policy has had students up in arms over the past few months. In response to a slew of alcohol-related incidents, the University has been working for several months to make changes to the existing policy. So the question becomes: What form will the changes take? The alcohol task force, composed of students, faculty and administrators, submitted an extensive list of alcohol abuse recommendations to University President Judith Rodin at the end of April. These suggestions ranged from the easily accomplished-- offering a freshman seminar on alcohol abuse-- to the more complicated -- building a bowling alley. But although the time frame Rodin outlined for a consultation period to review the recommendations ended June 30, she has yet to announce which recommendations will leave the document to become realities on the Penn campus. We applaud the committee's set of recommendations, which promote alcohol education and non-alcoholic social options. And the attempt to work with the campus to encourage positive change is a far better decision than making Penn a permanently dry campus. But we urge the administration to waste no time in determining which recommendations to adopt. Although Rodin's wish to fully evaluate the situation is admirable, the University is now at a point where it needs to make a decision so that action may begin on the new policy. We recommend that a clear, defined policy be in place by September. When students return to school, they need to know exactly what the rules are and what changes will occur on campus over the year. Provost Robert Barchi is chairing a committee designed to decide how best to implement the recommendations. This committee would be far more useful if it knew which recommendations would actually come to fruition. The University cannot afford to dawdle on a issue which has ignited such a passionate response from the campus community. Administrators need to move toward the creation of the new alcohol policy immediately.