By MATT EPSTEIN
News Editor
 

Those days, however, are gone. At the insistence of the State of Maine, alcohol policies were changed last year to comply with the law. No longer can a keg be blue-slipped, tapped, and the campus invited in to drink as much as possible for a fixed price.

Starting last fall, all campus-wide parties required the presence of a caterer with a liquor license to serve alcohol. With the caterers charging as much for two drinks as the admission price to many of the old parties, campus-wide parties died out quickly after the start of the semester.

However, the decrease in large scale partying has been countered by a troubling rise in other forms of drinking on and off the Bates campus.

Upperclassmen are socializing more at off-campus parties and bars, where there is less of a safety net if something goes wrong, and where students are more likely to drive while drunk.

On campus, there has been a growing amount of "pre-partying." Students congregate in smaller groups, in private rooms, drinking more, earlier in the evening. This has brought with it a host of new issues to be addressed, as outlined in May's Joint Commission on Alcohol Report to the President of Bates College.

The report, under assembly since March 1996, details the status of alcohol consumption on the Bates campus today. It paints a disturbing picture of binge drinking that is being mirrored at most of the nations colleges and universities, according to a national study released last week from the Harvard School of Public Heath.

"The vast majority of college students consume alcohol on a regular basis, despite state, local and institutional prohibitions against the practice for those under the age of 21. These conditions most certainly obtain at Bates," states the Joint Commission's report.

"Drinking this year is much more secretive and done behind closed doors. There is less of a propensity for friends to look after friends as everyone is drinking excessively [unlike at the old all-campus parties] and quickly to make sure they are drunk."

"Campus social life is much more stratified by class and among smaller groups, resulting in less class mixing.... As a result there is no upperclass `guidance' on how to drink and at what levels. When upperclass students are present, the tone and atmosphere of parties is less focused on excessive drinking."

With this change in types of drinking has come a host of secondary effects which have been traditionally associated with alcohol consumption, but were more prominent last year, and are seen to be on the rise nationally as well, as indicated in the Harvard report.

"The second-hand effects of binge drinking continue at the same high levels. In 1997, the vast majority of non-binge drinking students are negatively affected by the disruptive behavior of binge drinkers. The study reports that four out of five students (78.8 percent) who were not binge drinkers and who lived on campus experienced at least one second-hand effect of binge drinking, such as being the victim of an assault or an unwanted sexual advance, having property vandalized, or having sleep or study interrupted."

On the Bates campus, the situation is in line with the rest of the nation. "Dorm damage was up 40% last year," said Assistant Dean of Students Peter Taylor. "This is very troubling to the college."

Continued Taylor: "the social norms here really do give students license to drink excessively and to act irresponsibly."

"Now groups of friends are scattered around campus, making it more difficult for friends to be present and intervene when necessary [for each other's safety]," adds the Joint Commission's Summary Report for Focus Groups.

The increase in alcohol related problems and the health issues that alcohol consumption itself raises are what prompted the May report, and the suggestions that it makes for the college in the future.

The primary goal is to transform the "social norms" of the campus towards more constructive behavior.

Aside from "themed" parties, such as the All-College Gala, most all-campus parties were ill attended last year. Those that saw significant crowds, such as the Gala, were mostly non-alcoholic events where the major attraction was music, or anything other then drinking.

By encouraging more of these events, and scheduling them earlier, during the time normally reserved for pre-partying, the report hopes "to provide opportunities for meaningful social interaction in non-alcoholic settings."

Also suggested was an expansion of the intermural program into later evenings and weekends, which has been effective at Bowdoin, according to Peter Taylor.

The 40 percent rise in dorm damage has encouraged the Administration to address what Taylor sees as a "lack of respect for property and common spaces."

Most upperclassmen are familiar with this problem, having stepped into many a ruined bathroom on a Saturday morning which will remain that way until a custodian cleans it up on Monday morning.

The Joint Commission Report suggests getting the house councils more involved in "setting community expectations, mediating disputes, and exacting consequences for peer misconduct within student culture." In practice, this would involve getting those who made a mess in a residence to take care of it before it becomes an inconvenience for the rest of the residents.

For more serious problems, the administration has made some changes in the way security will deal with parties and disturbances this year.

Blue-slipped parties will be visited more frequently by Security officers. A checklist will be provided for the officers to evaluate any violations that they witness. Minor problems will be corrected and the party reinspected later. For major violations, such as sale of alcohol without a license, parties will be terminated.

For dealing with individual misbehavior, a new "three strikes" policy is being implemented. On the first offense, a warning will be issued, and the student will have a conference with a dean.

On the second, another warning will be issued, and a service or educational obligation can be assigned. The Dean of Students office will be giving out an Educational CD-Rom: "Alcohol 101," which is designed to help students consider some of the issues that they may encounter in a night of drinking.

Students are urged to serve themselves from a virtual bar and then make choices such as driving themselves, or participating in a drinking game when very intoxicated and facing peer pressure to continue.

Students who cause property damage may be assigned to repair the damage, or to more punitive work, such as cleaning every bathroom in their dorm.

On the third offense, the offender will be referred to the Student Conduct Committee. The College's reasoning is that at this point two chances have been given, and students should get the message that irresponsible conduct in the residences cannot be tolerated.

"This is not an issue that is going to be resolved overnight or even in a year," said Taylor. "It is rooted in tradition, social norms and student expectation." However, Taylor stressed that "Bates is not moving to a dry campus."