The chair of the President's Task Force on Alcohol Abuse Prevention, Jeff Potteiger, updated Associated Student Government (ASG) Tuesday with a report outlining what parts of the recommendation have already been implemented and which parts are in the development phase.
"Some of the recommendations can be implemented quickly, others (have to be implemented) over time," Potteiger said.
Potteiger emphasized to senators that the final report recommended a combination of policies and changes be put in place, which can transform Miami's social culture only if they are all implemented.
"You can't pick (proposals) that don't cost a lot of money or ones that aren't student-centered," Potteiger said. "In order to be effective, you have to take them as a whole."
In his presentation, Potteiger presented statistics that compared Miami's alcohol abuse problem to benchmark institutions.
One issue that makes Miami's situation unique is the percentage of undergraduate students who come to the university having already established drinking behaviors. The percentage of freshmen students who claim they frequently or occasionally drank beer during their senior year has stayed around 64 percent over the last decade for Miami while it has decreased from 55 to 44 percent at benchmark institutions over the same time period.
Potteiger said that this data shows that there is a group of students who come to Miami with certain behaviors already set. Potteiger also said that some students use alcohol as a way to treat their problems.
"Some students are self-medicating and their medicine of choice is alcohol," Potteiger said.
Potteiger pointed out that drinking arrests on all college campuses rose to 34,393 last year. He said that this can either be due to increased drinking or increased law enforcement.
While some of the task force's proposals to remedy this problem have been put in place, committees have been formed in some instances to look at implementing other policies in the near future.
Potteiger pointed out that the policies are not meant to be punitive, although some senators voiced concern that a few are too strict.
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For instance, junior Laura Walaszek, president's chief of staff for ASG, was concerned with the lengthened time, from two to seven years, that a notation stays on a student's transcript for alcohol violations.
Potteiger replied by saying that the committee was actually less explicit than some universities that describe the details of the violation on the transcript.
"The thoughts of the committee were that the academic transcript is a representation of who you are and what you did" Potteiger said. "If people engage in behaviors that are inappropriate, that should be noted."
Another senator was concerned with the low number of suspensions in relation to the number of alcohol violations.
"(The presentation mentioned that) there were 16 suspensions last year and over 1,000 violations," said freshman senator Amy Schumacher. "If there is such a big problem, why is there such a small number of suspensions?"
Potteiger said that this may be because the enforcement is
considerably lax for the most part. He discussed his pportunity to ride in a police car with an officer
from the Miami University Police Department.
"There were so many times MUPD could have been more forceful but they weren't because they are more student-centered," Potteiger said.
Potteiger compared Miami's recommendations to the new alcohol abuse policy at the University of Georgia. He said this policy states that students caught with a violation are automatically taken to jail, no questions asked.
Junior senator Jens Sutmoller said that he felt the recommendations ignored what he feels is an integral aspect of combating the alcohol abuse problem. He said that he felt the
recommendation ignored the lack of off-campus social venues for students.
"I always tell people 'There's the Princess, and there's the Princess'," Sutmoller said, explaining that the only place for students to go with friends uptown is the theater.
Potteiger agreed, but said part of the problem in addressing those concerns was a lack of participation in meetings by restaurant and bar owners.
"The options off-campus are very limited," Potteiger said. "We sent an invitation to all restaurant and bar owners and only
two people showed up. To have such a low turnout is very disheartening."
Potteiger said that now bar owners call with reactions to the report and to voice their opinions, but he points out that he invited them to meetings with the committee before the report was finalized.
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