A new, more nuanced alcohol policy is being implemented this semester, following a year of extensive deliberations on how best to combat alcohol abuse on campus.
The revision — finalized over the summer after extension collaboration between students and administrators — arrives on the heels of a 2009-10 academic year that began with the enforcement of a stricter alcohol policy, which dispensed with the warning system for first offenses and instead immediately placed first-time offenders on level-one disciplinary probation (pro-one). Prior to last year, students guilty of substance-related offenses were first issued a warning.
The new policy attempts to offer a more nuanced take on the matter, differentiating between different types of alcohol violations, separating offenders according to the severity of the offense and drawing a distinction between simple carelessness and abusive, dangerous behavior.
The new policy establishes two tracks for disciplinary action. Level A violations include "underage drinking or possession of alcohol, drinking in public spaces, public possession (small quantity) or use of illegal class D substances (marijuana)," while Level B violations include "dangerous or irresponsible drinking, including disorderly conduct due to intoxication that requires intervention by university or local officials."
The consequences for Level B violations are more severe and include parental notification for the first offense. Crimes such as operating a vehicle under the influence or providing alcohol to minors may result in even harsher disciplinary action.
Addressing some students' concerns that the harshness of last year's policy endangered students by deterring them from seeking medical assistance, the revised policy also includes a stipulation that allows students guilty of a Level A violation to meet with Director of Alcohol and Health Education Ian Wong within two weeks of their offense. According to the text of the policy, students who complete this meeting will have their punishment reduced to a "warning" from pro-one.
Aside from the tougher disciplinary policy, the last academic year also saw other alcohol-related changes to campus programming, culminating in Spring Fling being made a completely dry concert. These changes were also accompanied by a reduction in alcohol-related misbehavior, according to Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman.
Reitman made clear, however, that these two trends were not necessarily causally related, but instead on-campus debate over the merits of the policy brought about more prudent behavior among students.
"I think last year was a much better year because of all the attention that this topic got," Reitman said. "When you know that student leaders in all parts of the campus are talking about abusing alcohol and its impact on campus programming and when events are getting cancelled … you can't help but have some people recognize that this might be a problem."
Reitman and several student leaders acknowledged that the stricter policy may have created a "chilling effect" that scared students from calling Tufts Emergency Medical Services (TEMS) for their friends or themselves when it may have been advisable to do so. But the number of calls to TEMS last year increased by 24 percent over the previous year, according to Director of Emergency Management Geoffrey Bartlett.
This data could be interpreted two ways, Reitman said. A greater number of calls could mean a higher level of dangerous drinking; it could also mean students were more disposed to call TEMS to seek medical assistance for friends who had been drinking.
Reitman praised the efforts of both the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate and the Alcohol Task Force, comprised of students and administrators tasked with studying issues pertaining to the campus drinking culture. Senate passed a resolution in November 2009 making policy recommendations that were later adopted by the task force, and eventually by a university steering committee, which was largely made up of administrators but included one student, then-TCU President Brandon Rattiner (LA '10).
"The steering committee wanted to work with students to address that partnership in coming up with a way to discourage dangerous drinking and encourage the ability to call for medical support and that's where the request came from to allow for a forgiveness policy," Reitman said, referring to the new stipulation allowing students to be taken off pro-one after meeting with Wong.
Senior Bruce Ratain, who last year chaired the Senate's Administration and Policy Committee, praised the addition of the forgiveness option.
"I think that's an important step, and I'm glad that's been decoupled from a punitive measure that we think was potentially discouraging students from seeking help," Ratain said.
The meeting with Wong entails a formal discussion about drinking, a tactic that has been proven effective in changing a person's behavior regarding alcohol abuse, according to Ratain.
Still, Ratain and Reitman were both adamant that the changes are just one step toward improving student behavior on campus.
"I think that anything we can do and the more we do is positive and the more visibility these issues have the better," Ratain said.
He added that if students view the new policy as the final step in the process rather than the first, the change could in fact have a negative impact.
Ratain also proposed the idea of carrying out comprehensive social norms marketing — a concept tested and proven on other college campuses which involves publicizing statistics about drinking that attempt to dispel myths about the supposedly widespread nature of college drinking. Fewer students regularly drink than is often generally assumed, Ratain said.
He also praised the administration for showing great responsiveness to students' concerns about the previous alcohol policy.
"I've really seen the administration as partners throughout this entire process," Ratain said. "I was actually both surprised and impressed with how easy it was to affect this policy change. The administration was very open to the policy changes."
