By MICHELLE WONG
Editor-in-Chief
 

The new policy better complies with Maine state laws, said Dean of Students F. Celeste Branham last week in a presentation to resident coordinators and junior advisors. To this end, only a few select licensed caterers, and not students, can purchase and serve alcohol at student-sponsored campus-wide parties.

"It's not an issue of eliminating alcohol on campus," Branham said. The revisions are for the College "to reduce risk for all parties concerned," with regard to fines and jail time that could result if students and administrators break the law.

Some state laws and the definitive Bates College policy are outlined in the1997-98 handout on Drugs & Alcohol, which is available at this week's open forums and from resident coordinators and junior advisors.

The new policy changes the rules that returning students were supposed to have followed in throwing and attending campus-wide parties in years past.

Campus-wide (or all-campus) parties are defined as "social events for more than 50 people which are open to any member of the Bates community and their guests," according to the new policy. This is unchanged from last year.

Also unchanged is the rule that all-campus parties can only be sponsored by student organizations or house councils that receive proper authorization after completing one of the Student Activity Office's blue slips.

Under last year's policy, campus-wide party sponsors could buy and dispense alcohol to legal drinkers, provided that the sponsors acted in accordance with state law and College policy.

By the revised policy, student sponsors of campus-wide parties cannot tend bar at their own organization's functions. Nor can they subsidize the purchase of alcohol for parties.

It used to be a requirement for sponsors of campus-wide parties to sell tickets for parties where alcohol was served only in advance. This year, tickets can be bought and sold at the door.

A necessary step added this year that nullifies the advance ticket sales requirement is that party sponsors must arrange for a contract with one of four caterers authorized by the Student Activities Office.

The caterers are: Pub 74 in Auburn, Andrew's Catering in Lisbon Falls, L'Italien's Liquor Service in Auburn, and Davinci's in Lewiston.

Party sponsors can choose the most competitive caterer to run the event's cash bar, from which caterers said they will sell the sponsors' chosen alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks.

Proper identification, such as a Maine state identification card or a driver's license, will be required at the bar.

By state law and college policy, caterers have the right to refuse to serve students for reasons such as presentation of false identification or visible intoxication.

There are no drink limits at the bar per se, but bartenders will assess each person's level of intoxication when they decide whether or not to serve a customer.

Pub 74 and Andrew's Catering said that the number of caterers they send to work at a party will depend on the size of the event.

A contract like the one that Andrew's Catering has just entered into with Bates is the first one of its kind from which the caterer has agreed to work. Crane confirmed the notion that party preparations and executions will be worked out on a trial basis.

"In the beginning, we'll probably have more people than we need," said Joyce Crane, manager of Andrew's Catering.

For example, at a party that is designed to draw an estimated crowd of 200 people, the owner of Pub 74 said he would supply two bartenders, two to four people to mill around the party and watch for illegal drinkers, and additional door bouncers to check tickets and make sure that no one with alcohol enters or leaves the party.

At an event, if a caterer sees a legal drinker wearing the requisite bracelet hand a beer to someone underage, then both people would be asked to leave the scene, said Peter Taylor, assistant dean of students.

Taylor said that the deans will collect the names of policy offenders and that these people could be subjected to review on a case-by-case basis.

"Sanctions, if warranted, will apply," Taylor said.

What would warrant a sanction is still undefined.

Taylor said that a sanction could include a conference with the deans. But it is "very unlikely someone would be expelled from campus for this infraction," he said.

It is yet to be determined whether campus-wide parties will end up costing students more or less money than they have paid per event in the past.

Since there is no longer a flat fee for party entrance and drinks, each individual will pay the ticket price plus the added cost of drinks consumed, which will vary from person to person.

At tonight's Den Terrace party, tickets are 99 cents in advance and $2 at the door. Pints of beer will cost $1.50.

There has not been any drink price setting among caterers, according to Bates deans and the caterers. Caterers themselves say that their prices are negotiable, depending on the size of the venue.

The caterers will earn money only by drink sales, the Deans said. They will not charge for setting up or working at Bates parties.

In their research, the Deans said that they examined the alcohol policy at Bowdoin College, among other peer institutions.

Bowdoin's policy is also to follow state laws, and to approve only Friday and Saturday night social events where alcohol is present.

In addition, Bowdoin requires party sponsors to register their events -- where roughly 10 or more people will gather in campus common space, and where alcohol will be served in this space -- with the Director of Student Activities for approval.

Alcohol at these Bowdoin functions is limited to beer, wine and champagne.

At Bowdoin, at least one of the designated sponsors must abstain from drinking alcohol during the sponsored event, and all hosts must remain "sober and responsive to potential violations of the alcohol regulations that may occur while the function is in progress," according to Bowdoin College Policies.

"We've been operating loosely vis-a-vis our counterpart institutions for many years," Branham said in a presentation given to R.C.s and J.A.s.

Branham said that one implication of the new policy would be that it could "drive drinking underground," she said, meaning that it's possible that small gatherings with alcohol could replace some large-scale campus-wide parties, and that students might drive off campus to get alcohol and then drive back to campus intoxicated.

"We have to strategize together so that that does not become normative," she said, encouraging R.C.s and J.A.s to be creative.

While the catering requirement could be profitable for the select authorized caterers, the new alcohol policy could have some negative effects on businesses where Bates students used to have the option to shop for alcohol for campus-wide parties.

During the 1996-97 academic year, students bought alcohol for the annual Halloween and Midnight Madness parties at one of two Roopers stores in Lewiston.

Students spent an estimated $40,000 to $50,000 at Roopers last year, said Stephen Roop, the stores' owner. He said that about half of this spending was on alcohol for campus-wide parties.

Bates students' spending at Roopers totals only about 1 percent of Roops's total business, but the policy "will have an impact on keg sales, without a doubt," Roop said.

"I hope we get walk-in business," he said.

One organization that used to buy its alcohol from Roopers for all-campus parties is WRBC, which, up to the middle of this week, had the opportunity to sponsor the first campus-wide party of the year.

On Tuesday night, WRBC executive board members decided against sponsoring it, said the station's general manager, despite Assistant Dean of Students Peter Taylor's offer to fund the party from money from the Student Activities and Dean of Students offices.

Keith Gauger '99, WRBC's general manager, said that WRBC realized the "importance of bringing the campus together," but that board members shied away from throwing the first event because they anticipated adverse reactions from students.

"The knee-jerk reaction of students of three upperclass years will be to say, `This really sucks,'" he said. And "once you get stuck with a bad reputation for throwing parties, it's tough to shake that."

"That's not a risk we're willing to take," Gauger said. He added that WRBC's decision was not just about the organization's image, but also about the issue of raising revenue from parties in the future.

The WRBC executive board did agree to sponsor a party sometime this semester, and possibly one with a rave theme, Gauger said.

Taylor said that the office of student activities will continue to subsidize party entertainment costs as an incentive for them to sponsor social events during a transition period of an unspecified length.

The deans "see the needs and purpose of bringing students together," Taylor said.

Turner House is to sponsor the first campus-wide party of the year tonight on the Den Terrace.

"We're simply helping out Peter [Taylor] because he needed someone to sponsor the first Den Terrace party," said Jay Lively '98, R.C. of Turner House. "Although we had planned to throw a party at Turner, we figured that we would invite the whole campus."

The party could not be held at Turner because its lounge can only be blue slipped for 50 people.

"Additionally, the Den Terrace party is a tradition, and it would be a shame if no one sponsored it," Lively said.