David Greene is right. We need to "examine the climate for social events" here at Brown. Something has changed in the social atmosphere since I came to Brown in 2003 and it hasn't been for the best. I don't remember seeing people leaving in ambulances after Sex Power God when I went as a first-year. I can't remember getting a single e-mail about having an alarmingly high rate of Emergency Medical Services calls in a weekend in the last two years; however, we have already gotten two this year.
So why all the EMS calls this semester? Well, let's take a look at the social scene, starting with Sex Power God, where early estimates approximate 30 people required medical attention. We have an immensely popular party that many people use as an excuse to dress and act a little more risqué than they normally would. In order to decrease their inhibitions about how they will dress and act, many students turn to alcohol. Because they know that they won't be able to get any booze once they are inside SPG, some people feel they need to drink enough to feel drunk for all three hours of the party. Whether the party managers turn these people down at the door or not, a serious problem exists in that they have already consumed more than is healthy. If, on the other hand, the party was devised so that trained, responsible people served alcohol in the event, its attendees would not feel as much pressure to show up wasted out of their minds, the bartenders would be able to have some control over cutting people off and I submit that less students would end up requiring medical attention at the end of the night. While the University might not be able to officially condone drinking for all, it cannot turn a blind eye to the practices that lead to it. Instead, officials, bartenders and party managers should focus on insuring that people are drinking and acting responsibly.
SPG is just one example. Max's has shut down, and other local bars, including ones on Brown's campus, have become stricter about IDs. Fraternities have been restricted in the types of parties they are allowed to have in their houses. Brown student group run parties have become more tightly monitored. Brown and Providence police have taken a more active roll in breaking up off-campus parties. If the goal of these crackdowns by the University and local police is to curb binge and underage drinking, clearly, it isn't working. Instead, Brown's No. 1 goal with alcohol should be to ensure that its students are safe. Brown certainly doesn't seem to be winning this battle recently either.
Fortunately, Brown's EMS policy, which encourages students to call EMS without receiving serious consequences, is right on the money. However, students should not be at the point of needing to call EMS. What can the University do to prevent this from happening? Get students out of the habit of needing to drink heavily in their rooms before going out. College kids will drink. That is a fact. And they will do it regardless of their age. I've gotten quite drunk myself, underage, at universities that have much more stringent alcohol policies than Brown. What Brown needs to do is make alcohol more accessible to all of its students. I know that sounds crazy at first, but if the University's goal is truly to look out for the safety of its students, it needs to start more actively turning a blind eye to some things and requiring that alcohol be served by trained individuals at all parties where people are likely to show up intoxicated. The University's goal should not be to try and prevent people from drinking, but to prevent them from drinking in a dangerous manner, and the best way to do this is by having sober, responsible people watching the distribution of alcohol and monitoring people's behavior in parties. The nature of alcohol is that it impairs people's judgment. Doing one more shot always seems like a good idea. But there is a reason why people are rarely EMSed after a night in a bar, and it is not because they are always of legal age. It's because there are responsible, sober people watching out for them.
I am not asking Brown to officially condone under-aged drinking or to have University employees serving alcohol. Rather, I hope that when Brown's administrators assess the current policies on parties and alcohol, they realize that many, many students here are going to drink and get drunk regardless of the policy that gets put in place. I also hope they realize that the best way to ensure that the drinking that will inevitably happen is done in a safe manner is to let it happen in a way that it can be easily monitored by responsible individuals from the University.
Trevor Griffen '07 is a man after your very own heart.
