Bucknell University revises student alcohol policy

-----Original Message----- From: owner-students@bucknell.edu [mailto:owner-students@bucknell.edu]On Behalf Of Steffen Rogers Sent: November 18,2003 15:31 To: students@bucknell.edu Subject: [STUDENTS:6082] URGENT: Alcohol Policy

This is an important letter. Please read it very carefully, for it may affect your ability to remain a Bucknell student.

As I wrote to you in an open letter in the October 10th Bucknellian, I do truly care what happens to each and every one of you. I explained at that time my reasons for concern and hoped that the dangerous situation that has existed with the abuse of alcohol on this campus throughout this semester would begin to correct itself. It has not. As a result, I am directing changes to our alcohol enforcement which will affect many students who choose to consume alcohol, whether of age or underage.

1) By mid-November, 24 Bucknell students had been hospitalized for alcohol poisoning. Several highly intoxicated students have also behaved aggressively with Emergency Room staff, conduct which was almost unheard of in the past. 2) Nine students have been involved in DUI cases, several of which could have ended in fatalities. 3) There have been several home invasions (party crashing and breaking and entering) by intoxicated students. 4) There have been violent incidents related to drinking. 5) Serious quality-of-life infractions have increased, ranging from public urination and defecation to the loud and disruptive use of obscenities late at night. 6) A number of student organizations have recently become embroiled in alcohol-related excesses and acts of dishonesty. 7) This fall Bucknell returned to the top 20 for hard alcohol in The Princeton Review, a category that subjects the University and its students to derision.

These behaviors are not only disruptive to our mission, they are extremely dangerous. I stated clearly in my open letter that I would do everything in my power to prevent the death of that first Bucknell student. I am pleased that student leaders and other students are working with administrators and faculty on long-term solutions, but emergency measures are needed right now. I am therefore directing the immediate implementation of a policy designed to remove students from campus who have committed egregious acts involving alcohol. Whether that removal will consist of a suspension of no less than one year, or permanent expulsion, will depend upon the facts established to my satisfaction. Only such refunds as are required by law will be repaid to an offending student. If the penalty is suspension, I am directing that the Office of Financial Aid shall not consider any application for reinstatement of Bucknell aid if the student is readmitted. This emergency but necessary policy will remain in effect until September 2004, after which it shall be reevaluated by the administration for continued effectiveness and considered in the context of other steps being taken by then. These policy changes are presented in three parts.

I. Acts which will trigger suspension or expulsion: .. 1) Participation in dangerous drinking games, including those involving the use of hard liquor, on or off campus. 2) Drinking which is accompanied by any act of physical violence which causes injury. 3) Any D.U.I. incident. 4) Involvement in an incident of alcohol-related hazardous hazing. 5) Hosting of off-campus parties at which guests become highly intoxicated and/or involved in any of the above listed activities. Tenants of off-campus units should be aware that they can incur additional criminal prosecutions, including jail terms, and civil penalties if they procure or provide alcohol to underage guests. 6) Consumption of alcohol to a dangerous level of intoxication..

Partial amnesty: The partial amnesty provisions of the current code will remain in effect. Therefore, on a one-time basis, a person who has dangerously consumed alcohol and seeks help will still be assigned only one point and will not be subject to the full application of these emergency response measures. The same provision will also apply if the call for help is made by a friend of the person who has consumed and is in difficulty.

II. All hard liquor (defined as beverages with an alcohol content of 15% or greater) is banned on campus. The points assigned to any violation of the University Alcohol Policy will be doubled when hard liquor is involved, so that the required leave given for 8 points is reached twice as fast.

III. Alcohol Points Reductions, Forgiveness and Modification of the Plan for Prominence

In addition to the stringent measures we are announcing for abusers of alcohol, I have simultaneously directed the Dean of Students to implement lesser sanctions on students in certain circumstances who have not exhibited self-destructive, dangerous or excessive behaviors. In keeping with a suggestion made by staff who deal with Greek Life, I have also directed modification of the Plan for Prominence in Fraternity and Sorority Affairs that relates to risk management violations. Those modifications to the alcohol code which entail a reduction in point assignment are noted below:

1) "In presence of" violation with negative voluntary PBT (portable breathalyzer test administered by Public Safety Officer) by underage persons: 0 points. 2) Incidental possession of alcohol by an underage person in a public area with negative voluntary PBT: 0 points. 3) "In presence of" without negative PBT by underage person: .5 points. 4) Beer and wine (or other beverage containing less than 15% alcohol) only - first offense: Presence of moderate amounts of alcohol in the room of an underage person; possession or consumption by a person of age in a room where all of the residents are underage; possession and/or consumption or attempt to purchase alcohol by an underage person; possession of an open container, regardless of age: 1 point. (Penalties will revert to 2 points after the first offense.) 5) Students who have 4 or fewer points on October 1 of the senior year will have those points forgiven. Higher totals will remain on the record.

With respect to the Plan for Prominence in Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, the achievement of Accreditation Status shall be modified as follows:

* Gold Star Standing: No more than two alcohol violations (revised from zero) per year. * Silver Star Standing: No more than four alcohol violations (revised from two) per year. * Good Standing: No more than ten alcohol violations (revised from eight) per year.

Please know that the decisions outlined above were not reached lightly. They were made after consultation with key administrators and represent a synthesis of numerous campus conversations and input from students, faculty, staff and parents. They were made also with the unanimous support of the Board of Trustees. To be blunt, the intent is to address the more serious offenses with more serious consequences. At the same time, I hope you see that we lessened penalties for students who have committed minor and/or limited offenses. We encourage a rich campus social experience but need to recognize the potential for serious injury or death, and we hope these modifications will allow a balanced and controlled social environment.

Again, I want you to enjoy Bucknell to the fullest and that includes a robust yet reasonable social life. The caveat is that I want each of you to live to complete the Bucknell experience. Our Vice President for Student Affairs, Charles Pollock, will be sharing with you under separate cover additional ways we can help you with compliance with these new policies.

Lewisburg, Pennsylvania offers a paucity of activities. The aesthetics of the campus combine with the beauty of the Pennsylvania hills to form an alluring backdrop for prospective students and their hidebound parents.

The superficies is short-lived: the area and its denizens devolve into a morose and oppressive setting for 18-22 aged explorers searching for a meaning to life. Alcohol, introduced to the equation, provides students with the perfect vehicle to quicken social interactions and accelerate social turnover in unwieldy scenarios, regardless of the environmental circumstance. The social stimulant is requisite to compliment or replace social alliances formed by participants in their former years and avoid or mitigate the associated anxieties and depression. Alcohol is the building block of a deluge of friendships and organizations formed at colleges and universities across the country.

Crimes committed during alcohol addled states are the responsibility of the transgressor, not alcohol: the true victim in the recent myopic rants of university council. Crimes, as expressed in this reply, are not the typical skimble-skamble of a sotted individual or group (the activities that bring joy to the students); but manifest criminal acts as they are known to society e.g. rape, harmful hazing (not simple derision or trivial pranks), and other illicit activities precluded by society to protect citizens from the menacing, physical will of delusional tyrants.

The goal of Bucknell should be to protect the students autonomy; unfortunately, they are usurping freedoms to pander to the megalomaniacs' will. The president's impetuous reactions to the recent misshapens of the campus are a sign of gross incompetence: who voted for this clown? Eliminating drinking will decrease future attendance, decrease endowment, and likely increase drug use and suicide rates on campus among a supertemporal list of detrimental side effects. Bucknell, over the years, has converted milksops into productive business leaders. The stringent policies suggested in this decree proliferates social outcasts to a society versed in the practice of cronyism.

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