Changes to Ohio University's alcohol policy are one step closer to finalization after yesterday's Day of Dialogue
a gathering of about 150 students, alumni, faculty, staff and area residents.
During the event, attendees were broken up into groups of eight at about 22 tables in the Walter Hall Rotunda, encouraged by OU President Roderick McDavis, OU Provost Kathy Krendl, Dean of Students Terry Hogan and Student Senate President Brian Footer to learn more about the policies and propose additional changes.
The changes were created by the Coalition Advocating Responsible Drinking Decisions and a task force charged by Hogan. The document they produced is titled Reducing Negative Consequences of High Risk Drinking: Recommendations for Change.
The changes include notifying parents for all underage alcohol and drug violations, creating an alcohol audit for placing violators into programs and expanding late-night, on-campus activities. All of these changes are divided into suggestions for Positive Engagement Community Development Intervention
Discipline
Communication
Law Enforcement and Assessment.
Making these changes is a way to work toward changing what McDavis calls a serious problem.
This behavior affects all of our students
the local community and the academic reputation of Ohio University
McDavis said. When this becomes a community concern
this problem will get solved.
Each group rated the degree to which high-risk drinking is a concern at OU on a scale from one to 10, with one being the lowest and 10 being the highest. Most tables rated the problem as an eight or a nine.
More than one table discussed the Intervention and Discipline policy recommendations, which include the alcohol audits and parental notification, because of their controversial nature, Hogan said.
The groups that discussed the audits, which would evaluate and then place violators into an appropriate intervention program, said they would increase personal responsibility but cautioned against blindly lumping students into groups. The groups encouraged adjusting the audits to appropriately reflect the intensity of OU's high-risk drinking problem and keep them confidential.
Some students, faculty and residents in groups discussing the parental notification recommendation supported it because it might decrease the occurrence of a second offense. Others suggested only notifying the parents of first-year students because entering college is a transitional phase in life. If parents are notified for alcohol and drug violations, however, the groups recommended parents be notified for all offenses.
Some group members were still concerned students would not be able to mature with the extra parental guidance that would come with the notifications.
Hogan said he was pleased with the dialogues and thought there was a good balance between sharing information and opinions.
After the dialogue, the coalition and task force will frame the recommendations into a revised policy beginning early Spring Quarter, McDavis said, adding the policies will be implemented Fall Quarter 2006.
The policy will not be set in stone and the task force and administrators will continue to listen to feedback, he said, adding that he hopes the dialogue is a way for students, faculty and administrators and area residents to work together.
I want us to become a fist
he said. The university won today but an awful lot of students won
too.
