Colleges tighten alcohol restrictions, but policies often vague, not enforced

University students are not the only ones fighting for their right to party. Administrations on college campuses nationwide are cracking down on alcohol consumption and binge drinking, but according to students, administrators turn a blind eye to illegal behavior and often fail to enforce their own lenient and ambiguous anti-alcohol policies.

At Yale University, disciplinary action in response to alcohol issues is rare.

"It is not a common occurrence. Hardly. Good lord," Gila Reinstein in the Office of Public Affairs for Yale University Health Services said. "Not that our students don't know how to have fun."

Yale freshman Brad Lipton said that the school would only take action if a student is caught consuming alcohol on the streets of New Haven, not within the confines of the Old Campus and residential college parties.

"There really aren't any rules about alcohol," Lipton said. "We're told that from the beginning. Yale feels it's a health issue, not a disciplinary one. The administration generally knows about the party culture, but they don't show any sign of caring at all."

Reinstein mentioned that since the New Haven area and the Yale campus are always bustling with cultural and extra-curricular activity, students' lives are not focused on drinking.

"We're in a small city and there are lots of things to do here, so everyone's very busy. Who has time? Alcohol is not a serious problem at Yale," she said.

Reinstein would not report how many students are admitted to health services with alcohol related problems on a given weekend. Director of Yale health services Dr. Paul Genecin was unavailable for comment.

Without neighborhood bars in cities like Cambridge and New Haven, more rural schools have a different campus party environment.

"Dartmouth can certainly live up to its 'Animal House' stereotype," freshman Kate Mulley said.

Dr. Jack Turco, director of health services at Dartmouth College said that, on an average night, three students would be admitted with alcohol related problems.

"But that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more students getting drunk," he said.

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Turco explained that the students who seek medical attention are not the "experienced drinkers" and tend to learn from the first experience.

Dartmouth's administration does show concern. "The administration does not want to see anyone die," Turco said. The college president resides on Frat Row and is leading a push to close down some of the fraternities. Mulley said that getting rid of fraternities is "going too far."

Turco stressed that the only impediment to getting students to drink responsibly is the drinking age.

"I think a 21 drinking age is unrealistic. When you come to college, they say you have to be an adult, but then they say you can't drink. Many students start to drink clandestinely at 18. They drink in basements and acquire a lot of bad habits. At age 21, people think something magical happens, as if they all of a sudden become responsible drinkers. "

Although Swarthmore College is not widely considered a "party school," freshman Benjamin Kabak said that the administration and the local police ignore underage students buying alcohol.

"There has only been one severe case of alcohol poisoning this semester and binge drinking isn't really a problem, but students do not really follow the rules set forth by the administration, but the administration will insist that this is not a problem," Kabak said.

He noted that Swarthmore students prominently display bottles of alcohol in their dorm rooms.

"School officials do nothing to stop this, and when public safety officials are in the building responding to a fire alarm or something they are completely aware of the alcohol," he said.

Still, Kabak said, officials do nothing in response. "As long as it does not disrupt the community, they will continue to turn a blind eye to the underage drinking."

The Swarthmore Phoenix reported the college's dean of students said that it would be more "convenient" for the college if the legal drinking age were lowered to 18.

Universities in the Boston area have made alcohol policies more strict since the 1997 death of Massachusetts Institute of Technology student Scott Krueger.

Krueger was a pledge in an MIT fraternity and died from alcohol poisoning.

"The issue of underage drinking affects the student body on a personal level," MIT sophomore Jacob Gibson said. "Scott Krueger's death has had a larger impact on student life than any other single event here. Because MIT is under a constant media spotlight and has to maintain a certain image, the administration is doing everything it possibly can to hinder the social aspect of college life on and off campus."