'New' RA policy really just codifies old protocol

I was dismayed to see your article on the front page of April 16th Prince. Brian Henn has misinterpreted and misunderstood the spirit of the "changes" of policy in the Adviser Manual concerning advisers, advisees and alcohol. Like Shannon Donnelly '03, resident adviser of Mathey College, I believe that advisers should not be enforcers because it would compromise the most valuable and most important components of our advising system at Princeton. From personal experiences over the past two years at Rockefeller College, I have been able to develop rich and very open relationships with many of my advisees. If I were patrolling their behaviors, these bonds between my advisees and me may not have formed.

In Rockefeller College, Master Maria DiBattista discussed these alcohol policies with all of the current advisers in the college before they were made official. Like many other current advisers, I had a voice in creating the section on alcohol in the Adviser Manual (advisers in each of the colleges met to discuss these policies as we did in Rockefeller) and believe that it needs to be clarified after Mr. Henn's misleading article.

The first point Mr. Henn makes is the "new" policy requiring advisers to inform assistant masters of advisees who persist in violating university policy concerning alcohol. This policy, now written in the Adviser Manual for the first time, has always unofficially taken place. The recently drafted policy cited in Mr. Henn's article gives advisers strategies for addressing situations where a student or a group of students are in danger or where a student or group of students have failed to respond after an adviser has shared with them considerations about the appropriateness and safety of their actions. In this rare event (which I have not experienced in two years of advising), it would be grossly negligent of an adviser not to do something about the situation. This new policy puts existing protocol in writing. It is by no means mandating or encouraging an adviser to patrol his or her advisees. In fact, the policy does just the opposite since it enables advisers to remain in their roles as trusted confidants. Also, the spirit of the policies indicates the university's continued commitment to the safety and welfare of individual students. These values are always the first priority when a student in question has a problem with alcohol.

The second "new" policy mandates the discussion between advisers and advisees concerning alcohol throughout the year. Again, this policy has always unofficially taken place since advisers are obligated to inform and remind their advisees about all university policies including those concerning alcohol. This dialogue naturally takes place during the year.

I would like to give an example of an alcohol programming event that I found rather effective in forming a dialogue between my advisees and me concerning the issue of alcohol. This event functioned as my spring Residential Educational Program-ming study break, a requirement of every adviser on a topic of the adviser's choosing. In 1999, 48 Hours aired a dramatic episode that examined drinking on college campuses. The episode starts with a look at binge drinking and the frighteningly high rates of such behaviors on college campuses and then concludes with the story of a Princeton student killed in 1997 after his vehicle was his struck by a drunk driver. The episode shows the universality of the dangers of alcohol abuse. Since a Princeton student is featured, the program strikes a chord with students at our university in an even greater way. After showing the first and last segments of the episode, I had a discussion with my advisees about drinking on our campus, and an Alcohol and Drug Peer Educator spoke about the available services offered by the university for those with drinking problems. After receiving feedback from my advisees about this event, I feel I can say with confidence that the lessons learned from the episode and our discussion were more powerful and memorable than any statistics on the dangers of drinking. With the formalized policy of alcohol programming and discussions, events like this one will take place more often in the colleges.

I applaud the Council of Masters and the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students that produce the Adviser Manual for soliciting the opinions of current advisers before making decisions on any new polices and for thoroughly documenting procedures as they have done with those concerning alcohol. It is unfortunate that Mr. Henn has interpreted this documentation as breaking news.

Robert Accordino is a psychology major from Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.