POINT: University needs to enforce its new party regulations

Elizabeth Gu | Daily Trojan

Last month, I penned a column criticizing the University for its failure to address the dangerous consequences of not enforcing its own rules in regards to underage drinking. Not only have such policies been frequently made in name only, but their lack of enforcement has led to repeated incidents of unsafe drinking resulting in the serious — sometimes even fatal — injury of students.

But last week, in an attempt to address this issue, the University administration updated policies aimed at providing a clearer, more comprehensive code governing University-sanctioned greek parties and outlining both old and new regulations. As well-intentioned as this new formatting may be, the latest set of expectations appear to be just as, if not more, difficult to enforce than their predecessors.

In compliance with University regulations, fraternities and sororities must now adhere to new policies relating to attendance, security and access to alcohol. Among the new rules includes submitting for review a mandatory guest list for all attendees 24 hours prior to the event (though previous guest lists were only subject to male attendees), hiring one security guard for every 50 anticipated guests, as well as limiting all social events in which alcohol is served to Thursday until midnight and Friday through Saturday until 2 a.m. The new rules also prohibit greek organizations from advertising their events publicly as they have traditionally done using Facebook event pages, fliers, sidewalk chalk or banner displays.

Additionally, no attendees will be permitted beyond the public areas of any greek chapter in which a party is being thrown, “if either the visitor or any host of that visitor [has] consumed more than two standard-sized drinks in the preceding four-hour period.”

According to the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Leadership Development, the latest set of guidelines were developed with the goal of meeting the University’s health, wellness and safety needs. And while these new rules do well to demonstrate the University’s willingness to more strictly define how University-sanctioned parties operate, they fail to address how such measures will be enforced in the first place — particularly given how difficult it has been to enforce similar measures in the past.

According to Interfraternity Council Executive Vice President to Administrative Affairs Peter Roberson, the goal of this updated guide wasn’t to change rules — ones which he said “haven’t really changed that much” — but rather to strengthen existing rules and highlight those that have been largely forgotten. But if the University truly seeks to ensure that the parties it authorizes are safe for all students, then it must do more than simply instate rules which will go unenforced, or worse, forgotten. Presently, regulations requiring security presence at parties haven’t prevented underage students from being served alcohol. And though an increase in party security may address this issue, it certainly won’t aid in implementing the seemingly unenforceable rule that all party attendees remain inside the party if they have consumed more than two standard-sized drinks within four hours.

Just because these policies may appear difficult to enforce, however, doesn’t mean the university shouldn’t do anything at all. To the contrary, the University has a responsibility to ensure that the parties it endorses are actually safe for students — a University-sanctioned event has to mean something more than just an official, but seemingly meaningless, label.

The tired arguments that underage drinking will continue regardless of policy or that the University’s stricter standards will harm the greek system have been heard time and again. The frequent insistence that such risky behavior has occurred without consequence before, while disregarding the few serious incidents of injury and even death, is erroneous at best and irresponsibly negligent at worst. And while it’s certainly true that the University can’t stop underaged students from drinking around University Park Campus, that doesn’t warrant turning a blind eye to it, especially when the University itself is liable for the damage such parties may cause.

But just as the University has a responsibility to ensure that its parties are safe for students, it further necessitates that the rules and policies it employs are capable of being meaningfully enforced. Though the effectiveness of these policies are still yet to be seen, it’s certain that their success will be contingent upon the University’s genuine efforts to enforce them.

Yasmeen Serhan is a senior majoring in international relations. “Point/Counterpoint” runs  Tuesdays.