Paul Chung | for The Phoenix

BY JACQUELINE SMALL

In print | Published October 28, 2010

Students generally do not see Judge Stephanie Klein under pleasant circumstances, but on Monday night several students went to hear her speak about alcohol and drug use among college students. DART hosted the event in Science Center 199, in order to help serve as a resource for Swatties to learn about possible penalties for drinking and using drugs. DART intends on bringing several speakers to discuss similar topics over the course of the year.

Klein oversees the trials of people from this court district who are arrested or given citations for violations such as underage drinking, public indecency and disturbing the peace. She pointed out that public indecency and disturbing the peace are just two of many crimes which may occur as a result of binge drinking, even if the accused is of legal age, and warned that violence and sexual assault may also be consequences of intoxication.

The judge frequently referred to her two daughters, who are pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees, and said that they would want her to tell Swarthmore students just to drink responsibly.
“I can’t tell you to drink responsibly because if you are under 21, drinking is against the law, so telling you that would be violating my oath of office,” Klein said.

Klein expressed concern over increasing rates of binge drinking and related tragedies. “You kids, you worry me something fierce,” she said, mentioning several statistics. She told the audience that 1,825 college students died last year from alcohol related incidents, including drunk driving. “I’m asking you to think about the consequences of your actions,” she said.

She said that she believes binge drinking has become much worse over the course of the last generation. She said that during her own college years, drinking was legal for her and her classmates, but “[she has] no recollection of classmates being senseless or passed out from alcohol.”

Klein told students she had no idea about what caused the change in the drinking culture, but said it might be related to the increased pressure on students, due to the economy and changing nature of the workforce. She said that while it is important to “blow off steam,” being safe and making good decisions is more important.

About 30 people attended the question and answer session, which Tom Elverson ’75, alcohol education and intervention specialist, said was somewhat disappointing. “ I … had hoped for 50 [students to attend], but there was a fireside chat about Strategic Planning at the same time … I was very impressed that DU’s entire pledge class came, though, and there were also members of Phi Psi there.”

Isaac Epstein ’14, a DU pledge, said in an e-mail that it was “‘strongly recommended’” that pledges attend the talk, and noted that several members of the fraternity are DART members as well. Epstein, though, did not attend the lecture because he had a class at the time.

Elverson, who oversees the DART Team since Kelly Wilcox left for NYU Abu Dhabi, said that this year, they plan to bring speakers from “all over the alcohol treatment and judicial world.” Upcoming lecturers include a drug and alcohol counselor at the University of Pennsylvania, a detective who deals with alcohol and drug related crime, a social worker and a chief of police. “I think it’s good to bring people from all sides to campus,” Elverson said.

Elverson knows many of these potential speakers through his contacts as the interventionist and counselor here. “I’ve really wanted the DART Team members to be leaders in and of themselves and they really have, Claire Almand [’11] and Phoebe Hansen [’12] especially are doing a great job, but what I do help them with is getting speakers.”

Elverson said he enjoyed the talk and thought it was well done. “My personal goal was that it be informative, educational, and a different perspective, and all those things were met. It was a beginning, and we could absolutely enhance it in the future, but I thought it went well.”

Almand, a coordinator of DART, said in an e-mail, “Judge Klein’s lecture had a lot of great information in it, and we learned a lot about how the legal system works. Unfortunately, [she used] the law as a scare tactic to prevent underage drinking. This, in my opinion, is not an effective way to help Swarthmore students make intelligent decisions about alcohol. But Judge Klein did give students good advice when she said to think [for] more than a few seconds about choices they make.”

The lecture was scheduled for shortly before Halloween, because historically, Halloween parties have the largest numbers of students hospitalized or cited for drinking.

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