ACC proposes new social honor code to curb binge drinking

Participants in the workshop, which was organized by the ACC to address concerns about binge drinking at the University, suggested that an agreement modeled on Princeton’s academic Honor Code could successfully promote responsible alcohol consumption among students.

Such a code might also encourage students to “help people who have been in need if they have been engaging in high-risk drinking,” ACC member and Wilson College Director of Student Life Michael Olin said.

ACC co-chair Chris Chandler ’10 said in an e-mail Wednesday that the proposal, still in its early stages, “was an idea that came directly from the students.”

“I think that it definitely sounds like a good idea and that it will have a positive impact on the issue of high-risk drinking,” he said, “but it will not solve the problem completely. It could simply be one more piece of the puzzle.”

Nevertheless, informal talks at the December meeting outlined two possible methods of implementation.

Former ACC member Juan Candela ’10, who attended the meeting, explained that a “softer” version would simply include a pledge. This would likely not affect other parts of current University alcohol policy, he said.

“If it’s the pledge, it’s the pledge. Nothing would change with respect to Public Safety [and] the administration,” Candela explained.

A second, “harsher” alternative, he noted, would more closely resemble the academic Honor Code in that it would call for disciplinary action if it were violated.

This disciplinary system would potentially allow alcohol policy violators to be judged by their peers, similar to theway the Honor Committee adjudicates violations of the Honor Code, which, Olin explained, “calls on students to be on the lookout for each other and to uphold certain standards.”

“Students come together and discuss what the punishment should be,” Candela explained. “When the system is changed, once a student breaks the rules, that student would have to meet with some members of the community, ideally the most respected ones.”

Eating club officers and leaders of student organizations like dance groups and athletic teams would be appropriate members for such a social honor committee, Candela noted.

Chandler said he is optimistic about the potential of a social honor code, but he also acknowledged its limitations.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

“I think that there is a good chance that most students will follow such a policy, and the ones that don’t are most likely the type of students who will operate outside of most rules or policies that a school can put in place,” he explained. “Those who do not follow it will have to be the focus of specific policy actions later on, once the school can come up with ideas of how to engage and affect those students positively.”

But the possible repercussions for not following a contract regulating drinking interactions concerned some students.

“I think the harsher version [of the proposed policy] would be unnecessary to an extent, because if you make something that harsh, it’s like putting laws on friendship,” Arda Bozyigit ’11 said of the potential requirement for students to take responsibility for other students’ unhealthy drinking habits. “Harsh rules can be given only for harsh circumstances.”

A pledge merely expressing a duty to care for one’s friends, though, would not be objectionable, Bozyigit said. “Taking care of people should be common sense.”

“Hopefully, if the social honor code is put in place, it will reduce the number of high-risk drinking incidences and so reduce the need for Public Safety to crack down as much in the dorms,” Chandler added. “But this is all speculation, since none of the details have been decided yet.”

The proposal is still far from being implemented, ACC co-chair and Director of Campus Life Initiatives Amy Campbell explained, adding that a team has not yet been formed to evaluate the concept of a social honor code.

“It’s not part of the working group yet,” she said in an interview Thursday, adding in an e-mail the same day that the ACC efforts this year concentrated on “pre-orientation and orientation alcohol education, party registration and efforts to partner with groups on campus to address pre-gaming.”

The committee plans to collect more student input before further discussions on the code begin, Campbell said.

“If there is interest in a student, faculty and staff working group to study a social honor code, we strongly encourage students to voice their opinion,” she added.

Senior writer Tasnim Shamma contributed reporting.