Students wary of stricter policy

Students' reactions to the University's heightened efforts to deter underage drinking varied, but many expressed concerns about the changes.

First reported in yesterday's Daily Princetonian, the revised policies increase the involvement of Public Safety officers and RCAs in enforcing drinking rules.

A team of two Public Safety officers has already begun actively patrolling dorms on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights looking for possible violations, rather than responding only to calls as they did in the past. Beginning in September, RCAs will be expected to proactively discourage and stop underage drinking among their advisees and on their hallways.

Some students worried that the revised policy suggests heightened monitoring of undergraduates' social lives. "I was proud that Princeton trusted its students [enough] not to have as strict policies as other schools," Wyatt Yankus '09 said. "It's disappointing to see the University adopting such harsh policies."

Kenton Murray '09 said he is "really mad about [the revised policies] right now." To him, "the worst thing is having the patrol" of Public Safety officers in dorms.

"My reaction is that it is going to drive more people to drink alone, which is going to set a dangerous precedent," Jacob Oppenheim '09 said.

But Cristian Proistosescu '09 noted that it might be wise for students to avoid drinking in dorms, which is what the revised policy aims to prevent. "I think if people want to drink, they should drink on the Street, not pre-game," he said.

Joel Thompson '08 said he sees no need for the patrols. "It just seems absurd. I don't really see that there is a problem with it. They've got a solution but there is no problem to solve. There is no reason to actively patrol for parties."

Thompson said he is afraid that Public Safety will use noise complaints while on patrol as a pretext to search rooms and cite people for alcohol violations. The Public Safety policy "reinforces negative stereotypes of Public Safety by students and makes students less likely to cooperate with them on the more critical issues of general campus safety."

Some students, however, said they were alarmed that the University's alcohol enforcement policy was revised without any student input. The policy was drafted by Dean of Undergraduate Students Kathleen Deignan, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Hillary Herbold and the residential college masters. It also incorporated suggestions from some colleges' directors of student life.

"I'm surprised that the University came out with the policy without consulting a student," Yankus said.

Murray had the same concern. "With a policy directly impacting students, students should have had some say," he said.

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USG vice president Josh Weinstein '09 said he hopes students can weigh in now that the policies are public. "Now we can start having student input," he said. "Hopefully, toward the future, we can have some discussions with Dean Herbold, relevant administrators and students."

Some students expressed concerns about how the revised policy will affect relationships between RCAs and their advisees. "People aren't going to trust their RCAs anymore," Selcuk Arkun '10 said.

Oppenheim also expressed concern about how the role of an RCA will change when students have problems with alcohol. The RCA is "the person you are supposed to go to if you drink too much," he said.

Jacob Denz '10 said he was skeptical whether RCAs would be willing to enforce the University's alcohol rules more strictly than they already do. "If it depends on RAs to do it, it won't be effective," he said.

But University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt '96 said in an email that RCAs have been receptive when told of their revised role. "The [residential college] masters have reported that their conversations with RCAs went very well," she said "They were very positive."

One RCA, who was granted anonymity because RCAs have been instructed not to speak about the revised alcohol policy until after the University's official announcement, said his new duties "wouldn't scare me away" from another year as an RCA.

Though the policy has enlisted strong reactions from many students, others were more measured. "I think it makes sense," Kaitlyn Hamilton '11 said, "but I'm not excited about it."