Caren Holmes
Staff Writer
The long-awaited updated campus alcohol policy has been approved by Campus Council and is expected to receive approval from the College administration within the coming week.
The new policy however, has not been made public to the student body.
The policy has been revised and reviewed by legal staff, administration and student representatives.
Last year, a select group of 12 students representing various student groups on campus were selected to sit on the College’s Alcohol Task Force (ATF), a committee designed to increase student input into the policy revision process.
The purpose of the task force was to ensure that student concerns were addressed in transforming the existing policy.
Coordinator of Student Rights and Responsibilities Jess Ettell acted as the administrative liaison for ATF.
Sara Abrams ’17, representing Residence Life, expressed that she felt Ettell listened to student concerns and represented the group well.
Overall, she believes the group was productive and fairly contributed to the policy revision process.
Other students involved in ATF did not feel the student perspective was adequately included.
Inter-Greek Council representative Diego Arellano ’17 suggested that space for student contribution was limited by an “outdated” Scots Key and the campus’s status quo.
Arellano said, “The College says they want to change drinking culture but are not willing to make real structural changes.”
Student Government Association representative Sophie Nathanson ’17 suggested that the process of revising the policy was like, “coloring in a coloring book that was already colored in.”
She felt that while the ATF initially provided a space for productive communication and critique, there was a lack of administrative accountability and transparency in the subsequent steps of policy revision.
“Once it was out of our hands, it was out of our hands,” said Nathanson.
K(no)w representative Cassie Huye ’17 reiterated Nathan’s sentiment, suggesting that, “students were not involved in the middle chunk of the process until the policy reached campus council.”
To this day, ATF representatives have not seen the final copy of the policy and did not have additional opportunities to review subsequent changes made by the administration.
Arellano expressed his concern that the end product would not reflect the views of the student body.
In the end he believes the College will continue to put its own liability before the practical safety of the student body.
He compared the College’s alcohol policy to sexual education, suggesting that it is like the College is teaching abstinence, when it should be working toward providing comprehensive sex education.
“The College needs to accept reality and encourage safe practices,” said Arellano, who hopes that the new policy will reflect this kind of progressive shift.