A student caught drinking underage wouldn’t be the only one in trouble if Athens City Council approves a new ordinance law enforcement plans to propose.
The ordinance, if enacted, would make it easier for local police departments to arrest and prosecute the person who gave alcohol to the underage drinker.
Under the “Social Host” ordinance, a person who is of legal drinking age and host of a party can be prosecuted if an underage person at the party is caught by police while intoxicated or in possession of alcohol.
The person who is of legal drinking age would be charged with a misdemeanor regardless of where police caught the underage person.
The “Social Host” ordinance is expected to be recommended to council by the Joint Police Advisory Council, comprised of Athens Police Department Chief Tom Pyle, OUPD Chief Andrew Powers and various university and city representatives.
The idea was presented to the undergraduate Student Senate on Wednesday by Caleb Balduff, a senator at large and Joel Newby, Graduate Student Senate president, who both sit on the advisory committee.
“I’m going to be very blunt with you guys, this is going to be a thing,” Newby said.
The current law requires police to witness the transfer of alcohol from someone of legal drinking age to someone who is not, according to Ohio University’s Center for Student Legal Services website.
Whereas the new ordinance would allow police to investigate where a person who is underage obtained the alcohol, Newby said.
Party hosts would be expected to identify people as they enter a party and turn away those who are not 21, Newby said.
The advisory council is considering the ordinance after it was contacted by a survey company, whose name wasn’t available as of press time, with numbers detailing OU’s underage drinkers.
Survey results showed OU’s numbers are slightly higher than the national average, but study details weren’t available as of press time.
Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio, was approached by the same survey company and refused to consider implementing the ordinance, Newby said.
“It is time for us to have a voice in how our city government works,” Balduff said. “At the end of the day, it’s all about the safety of the students, and this is something that would hurt that.”
One of the Ohio communities with such an ordinance is Dublin, a Columbus suburb.
Under Dublin’s provision, a guilty person of the offense could be fined up to $1,000 and sentenced to a maximum of six months sentence in jail, according to the city’s website.
Since the ordinance has been put in place in 2009, 14 people — five adults and nine juveniles, have been charged with violating it.
