In response to recent incidents on campus, hard-drinking Oberlin students may now find themselves subjected to a stricter alcohol intoxication policy. Under the new policy, severe intoxication will incur a mandatory evaluation. Further violations can lead to judicial action.
Passed last March by both Student Senate and the General Faculty, the new regulation targets “severe alcohol intoxication,” defined as “intoxication which may be reasonably judged to represent significant potential harm to self.”
“[The new policy] gives the College the means to address egregious alcohol abuse. The previous policy made no mention of intoxication,” Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith said. “[It] gives us another tool in addressing the liabilities surrounding alcohol abuse,” he added.
The policy also includes a “Good Samaritan” clause: when students call Safety and Security for help with a drunk friend, neither caller nor friend can be cited with an alcohol violation. “It is not punitive,” Goldsmith said, referring to first offenses. “It addresses health and quality of life issues.”
Bill Stackman, Associate Dean of the College and member of the Judicial Board, said the Alcohol Intoxication Policy puts into writing, long-held unwritten college policies. Under the new policy, the College can address intoxication with students over the age of 21 as well. It is generally directed toward extreme cases of drunkenness, usually in which students pass out or require medical attention, not “where someone has a buzz,” Stackman said.
Student response to the Alcohol Intoxication Policy has been minimal thus far. Junior Molly Ptacek lauded the policy as a good first move. “Oberlin doesn’t do a lot to support alcohol awareness among students. Other schools have alcohol programs, better follow-up treatment, AA chapters,” she said. Another student interpreted the policy as a way for the College to “cover its own ass, not take care of students.”
A few frustrations over the existing alcohol policy, which focuses primarily on underage drinking, have re-surfaced as well. A second-year student voiced his frustration that his 21-year old roommate could drink only if the door was closed and no other underage people were in the room. He considers the new policy oppressive.
“I don’t think they’ll enforce it,” he said, “On Saturday night there are literally hundreds of drunk students. Are they going to give evaluations to each one?”
The town of Oberlin has also made moves toward stricter enforcement, potentially further limiting student alcohol freedoms. A former cradle of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and a hot bed during Prohibition, Oberlin has always advocated greater alcohol control. The new police chief vows stricter regulation of “open-container” alcohol. This, together with the new alcohol intoxication policy might signal a general drying of the campus.
Studies by the Harvard School of Public Health show that the number of binge drinkers on college campuses remained stable through the nineties, but that instances of binge drinking have increased since then. Without a Greek system and with the general attitude that students will be responsible for themselves, many view Oberlin as immune to the problems of excessive drinking that have plagued larger universities.
Still, one safety and security officer commented that over the past two years alcohol problems have gotten worse. Dean Goldsmith echoed this statement, saying that alcohol is a matter of some concern, especially in the past weeks when it has been linked to instances of sexual assault.
Nevertheless, as of yet, there has been no judicial action in response to incidents of intoxication and Oberlin’s Alcohol Policy remains comparatively lenient.
In July, the entire California State University system enacted a system-wide alcohol policy that strictly enforces the existing drinking laws in the state. In Oberlin, despite the new policy, the majority of drinking cases are still handled by friends and Resident Assistants. This might explain the lack of large-scale protest over the restriction upon a right that many Oberlin students hold dear.