Despite objections that student binge drinking has worsened this fall, the Borough Council took no action on the controversial alcohol ordinance last night.
Instead, the council heard from student leaders, University administrators and community groups on how to combat a "culture" of drinking on campus and at the eating clubs.
"I am encouraged that the University is getting involved," said Borough Councilman David Goldfarb, who has supported the alcohol ordinance.
The ordinance would allow police to cite underage drinkers on private property, including the eating clubs.
Representatives of the Princeton Alcohol and Drug Alliance opened the discussion with a call for more education and prevention rather than passage of the ordinance.
At the council's April 23 meeting, when the ordinance was tabled by a unanimous vote, PADA was charged with reporting on efforts made by the University and student groups to curb dangerous drinking.
Inter-Club Council and former Quadrangle Club president Corey Sanders '04 spoke on what he said were extensive safeguards taken by the eating clubs to prevent excessive and underage drinking.
"All clubs use wristbands for students of legal drinking age," Sanders said. "Club officers patrol the interiors of clubs preventing people from drinking who should not be."
Every club but one now hires non-student security to check IDs and deny entrance to visibly drunk students, he added.
The added security has also made it harder for non-students to enter the clubs, said local high school students who spoke at the meeting.
But Goldfarb said the number of University students requiring hospitalization this fall is higher than last semester.
"[The measures by the clubs] don't seem to have worked," he told Sanders. "A lot of this was to address specific concerns that the police department had. It was window dressing."
Borough Police Chief Charles Davall said he was "neutral" on the alcohol ordinance.
"I'm optimistic but at the same time skeptical," he said. "We can't verify that all these good things are going on" in the clubs, he added.
Daniel Silverman, the University's Chief Medical Officer, disagreed with some council members' claims that the administration is "indifferent" to alcohol abuse.
Silverman said the University has added freshman alcohol education programs, funded non-alcohol events, ran an ad campaign and changed the role of residential advisers to help control drinking.
"It is now an explicit statement of [RA's] job to have a high level of vigilance about drinking going on in dormitories," he said.
Outgoing Borough Mayor Marvin Reed said the recent charges against club officers show that the situation is not under control.
"Young undergraduates got themselves so smashed at the club that the club president was charged with serving to a minor," he said.
The council requested that PADA return to discuss the situation in about six months.
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