Clubs plan to limit serving of alcohol for annual sign-ins

In light of the recent penalties given to 14 Sigma Alpha Epsilon members by the university, the clubs are deemphasizing the role of alcohol in this weekend's sign-ins.

"It has made us more aware of the penal ramifications," of serving alcohol to minors, said Brad McConnell '90, Cloister Inn president. "On our club specifically, it hasn't had a great impact since we are already very careful."

Dean of Students Eugene Lowe '71 siad the clubs have the same legal responsibilities as SAE when serving alcohol in initiation games.

On Jan. 23, the university required the SAE president to withdraw for a year for serving alcohol to underaged students during SAE's Dec. 15 "Golf Night" event. For the same incident, 11 members were suspended for a year and two others were placed on one-year probation. At least 12 are appealing their penalties.

Aware of politics

The university is taking precautions in case previous problems with sign-ins reoccur. During 1988 sign-ins, 39 students were treated for alcohol-related illnesses and police charged five eating club officers for serving underaged drinkers.

Club officers will be enforcing strict alcohol policies during sign-ins this year, some officers said.

"The SAE incident made every one very aware of sign-ins week alcohol policies and made the club officers rethink their policies," said Quadrangle social chair Steve Robb '90.

Officers from Charter Club, Cloister Inn, Quadrangle Club and Terrace Club also said their official club policies would be to not serve alcohol during sign-ins.

"We will be completely dry Saturday night," McConnell said. "We're placing more emphasis on imagination" than alcohol.

One officer of a dry club, however, said clubs do not always follow these policies.

"There's a divergence between formal policy and actual policy," the officer said. "Officers are reluctant to discuss actual policy. It's a liability issue. You can't have a formal policy, which is blatantly against state law."

"We serve (undergrad) people but we make sure we have people on hand at all times" to make sure that students who are intoxicated are not served and to see if anyone needs medical attention, the officer added.