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BY JACQUELINE SMALL

In print | Published March 18, 2010

In an effort to make party hosts more responsible and allow more students to become hosts, the Drug and Alcohol Resource Team has recently announced a new party permit policy.

The policy demands that at least one host of a party attend a DART-run training session, and allows one of the two hosts of a party to be under the age of 21. Any underage host must attend a session. In the past, both hosts had to be over 21 and there were no training sessions.

The policy was implemented at the beginning of the week.

In the past, there were concerns that underage students who wanted to throw a party would have two 21 year olds, who were otherwise uninvolved, sign the permits. This legally made them the hosts, but they often did not even attend the parties or left part way through.

“[These changes] ensure that the people who sign off on the permits will actually be there and be accountable for the party,” said Sami El-Dalati ’10, one of two paid interns taking over some of Associate Dean for Student Life Kelly Wilcox’s duties in the Office of Student Life. Wilcox left for NYU Abu Dhabi in January.

Requiring hosts to attend a session means that “the party host knows exactly what they’re signing off on,” Claire Almand, a DART Coordinator, said.

“It’s really challenging, especially in the fall semester, to find two students over 21 years old,” said Leigh Elko ’10, the DART member who led these changes. “This will make hosting, with and without alcohol, accessible to a more diverse group of students.”

The sessions are administered by the DART members and are between 15 and 30 minutes long. They cover topics such as party planning procedures, signs of alcohol poisoning and how to respond to it, what to do in the event of a fight between partygoers, and what to do if police come.

Jordan Bernhardt ’11, who was one of only five students to attend the first training session, said, “It was mostly common sense things that you’d already know if you’ve hosted a party before or attended your alcohol workshop, but I suppose it was useful to have it all in one place. I think they did a pretty good job.”

Almand said she was pleased with how the first training session went, but called it “a test run,” and said she had hoped more people would attend. She attributed the lack of participation to the few parties that will be held this weekend.

The only two general sessions were held on Tuesday and Wednesday night, but individuals who want to host parties and missed the sessions may schedule private lessons.

“DART as a whole is really willing to make a lot of individual considerations and accommodations for people that won’t be able to attend the big sessions,” Elko said, adding that DART is doing this with the intention of helping the student body.

Elko explained that the scandal surrounding the Halloween party was one major impetus that led her to work for a policy change. She claimed that the rumors that the drinks were spiked with grain alcohol were false, and that people were unusually affected because the drinks contained the standard amount of alcohol for mixed drinks, while drinks at Paces usually contain less.

Elko said that she hopes that the training sessions will also help teach people proper drink mixing techniques. The training session stressed that increasing awareness of how much alcohol is in each drink will help people recognize their boundaries.

“Hosts need to take a little more responsibility,” Elko said. “You’re not guaranteed a Party Associate but that doesn’t let you off the hook for doing what PAs are supposed to do, such as checking IDs. That falls on the host.”

The sessions emphasized that it is the responsibility of the hosts to deny alcohol to underage guests and the visibly intoxicated. They are also required by state law to post signs that say, “You must be 21 years of age to possess or consume alcohol in the commonwealth of PA.”

Being convicted of serving alcohol to minors carries a fine of $1,000 per underage person. While Almand said that hosts should keep that in mind, she added that this has rarely happened in the past.

Almand added that underage hosts could face the same penalty if they are charged, and the DART members suggested that they should avoid all alcohol-related processes, like buying and serving drinks.

Tom Elverson ’75, the College’s Alcohol Education and Intervention Specialist, said that while he was unclear about exactly what a host’s legal responsibilities are, as long as underage hosts do not serve alcohol, they should be safe from prosecution.

El-Dalati said that he was optimistic about the change. “[The drive to amend the policy] started while [Wilcox] was here, and it was something we continued. It wasn’t brought on by her leaving, and she definitely supported it,” he said.

“Wilcox and the Office of Student Life [have] mostly played a role in taking DART’s ideas and relaying them to the proper authority figures … clearing it by college lawyers … and bringing in guest speakers, such as Dr. Jason Kilmer, an alcohol researcher,” Elko said.

Associate Dean for Student Life Myrt Westphal said, “I think [the changes are] a great innovation — the people hosting the parties will be trained and knowledgeable. It’s a step forward in education and safety.”

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