USG to distribute alcohol business cards

Correction appended

The USG will create and distribute “alcohol business cards” to inform students about the rules regarding drinking violations in an effort to ease tensions between the University community and Borough Police, USG president Connor Diemand-Yauman ’10 announced at the USG meeting last Sunday night.

“The cards tell you your rights, and what you should or shouldnt do when interacting with a Borough or Public Safety officer,” Diemand-Yauman explained in an e-mail. “We offer quick advice for students regarding how to respond when interacting with law enforcement officers.”

Diemand-Yauman explained that the initiative was “a product of the USG’s effort to address the conflicting amnesty policies of [the University] and the Borough,” but it is only the first step in a larger effort to resolve this disparity.

“When students encounter Borough or Public Safety officers, we want them to be equipped with as much information as possible so they know what options are available to them,” Diemand-Yauman said.

Members of the USG’s alcohol working group conducted extensive research on drinking policies to synthesize “the most relevant and useful information” into a small and portable format, Diemand-Yauman said. While drafting the card’s text, the USG consulted Public Safety officers, a lawyer and the Alcohol Coalition Committee (ACC) booklet, he added.

The alcohol working group consists of ACC member Sam Dorison ’11, Class of 2010 senator Cole Morris, USG campus and community affairs chair George Tsivin ’10, U-Councilor Harry Schiff ’10 and USG vice president Michael Weinberg ’11, none of whom responded to requests for comment.

“While we’re also working on addressing the policy itself, this card will help students in the first stage of these encounters and hopefully help prevent exacerbating problems down the line,” Diemand-Yauman said.

The USG alcohol working group is also working on a plan to address the “Good Samaritan” policy, which ensures that underage individuals giving aid to intoxicated students will not face prosecution, Diemand-Yauman added, noting that the public release of the USG’s plan will hinge on the results of pending legislation.

He explained that the cards were developed to mitigate what Diemand-Yauman said could be a “stressful, uncomfortable experience, especially if you don’t know the rules.”

Last September, Diemand-Yauman was charged with serving alcohol to a minor after he called Public Safety to help a drunk friend.

Though he “trusted the system to address [his] situation in a fair manner,” Diemand-Yauman said in December that he believed his being charged went against the University’s alcohol policy. He also noted a lack of transparency when he dealt with Public Safety and Borough Police, explaining that he “assumed that both of the officers questioning [him] were from Public Safety” when in fact one was from the Borough.

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“It’s our hope that these cards will level the playing field and give students a feeling of confidence in a time of insecurity and uncertainty,” Diemand-Yauman explained. “Students need to be aware that we are living by the Borough’s rules as well as the rules of the University, and we therefore need to be able to respond accordingly when interacting with either party.”

But Angelica Ortiz ’12 expressed some skepticism about the cards’ usefulness.

“It sounds like it could be a good idea, but it seems like it would be hard to just [use the card] in the moment,” she said. “If someone’s drunk and something’s going down with Public Safety or the Borough, I doubt they’d think, ‘Hey, gotta get my card.’ ”

“I think the intention is a very good one, but I don’t think a card is the best way,” she added.

Correction

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Diemand-Yauman declined to give a specific timeframe for the cards release. In fact, Diemand-Yauman said the USG aims to distribute the cards before the end of final exams.