Alcohol tops Borough agenda

University administrators answered questions about programs they have implemented this year, including the Princeton Alcohol Coalition and the new RCA alcohol policy.

Interclub Council and former Charter Club president Will Scharf ’08, former Tiger Inn president Chris Merrick ’08, former Tower president Jon Fernandez ’08 and former Colonial president Tommy Curry ’08 attended the meeting to explain the efforts the clubs have taken to prevent dangerous drinking.

The most impassioned rhetoric of the night came from club presidents protesting the Borough’s decision to press criminal charges against many club presidents in the recent past.

Scharf, who will appear in court on March 10 to answer to charges of serving alcohol to minors and maintaining a nuisance at Charter, said the charges have taken a toll on his personal life. “I was planning to go to law school next year, but now my applications have been put under review or revoked,” he said. “I’ve had one nervous breakdown. I am sure my thesis adviser thinks I am going crazy.”

Scharf argued that the policy of charging eating club presidents will discourage responsible students from taking the position. “If eating club president becomes a synonym for legal liability scapegoat, you are not going to get the type of person stepping up who wants to control underage drinking, who wants to be responsible,” he said.

Other eating club presidents echoed Scharf’s statement. Fernandez said that his mother tried to convince him not to run for Tower president because she was so worried about the legal charges he could face.

Councilwoman Margaret Karcher, however, defended the Borough’s hands-on policy with the eating clubs. “People ask us why the Borough Council is so involved,” she said. “We are involved because these clubs are situated in the Borough of Princeton. They cost us money. They use our police, use our fire department and use our first aid,” she explained.

The eating clubs should be held to the same standard as Borough restaurants that serve alcohol, Councilman David Goldfarb said. “The establishments that have licenses pay a million dollars a year and would get their licenses revoked if many of the instances that happen in the clubs happen there,” he explained.

Scharf countered that the eating clubs do not require a license under the provisions of the Alcohol and Beverage Control Board because they do not sell alcohol. He added that he believes the clubs actually decrease dangerous alcohol use by providing a safe atmosphere for drinking compared to small parties in dorm rooms.

“If you were to look at the number of hospitalizations and trips to the infirmary on nights that the clubs are closed, I think you would see a direct correlation between us being closed and increased high-risk drinking,” Scharf said.

Despite the disagreements, Council members praised the club presidents for their efforts and progress. “I have never seen a group of leaders as outstanding as this before,” Karcher said, adding that she thinks Scharf will have a future as a lawyer despite his current setbacks.

Gary De Blasio, the director of Corner House, a young adult counseling center in Princeton Township, lauded increased efforts by the eating clubs to reach out to the community over the past year. Both TI and Cottage Club have held events for elementary school children, and presidents have spoken about alcohol abuse at local high schools.

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Polls at local high schools “show that the most impactful workshops have been the ones run by club members,” De Blasio said.

During another portion of the meeting, Borough resident Kristina Johnson protested the Borough’s plan to build a sidewalk too close to her “ancient” 85-year-old hedges. She characterized it as a most pressing problem.