Last Wednesday, the Interfraternity Council met with representatives from Troy and RPI to discuss underage drinking on campus and the task force recently formed to address the issue. The focus of the task force is not on fraternities, but it met with the IFC because they knew that their goals would be much harder to realize without its cooperation. All parties entered the meeting thinking that progress could be made and compromises reached, but not everyone left satisfied with the outcome. Some felt that the approach taken by the officials leading the discussion was along the lines of “we want you to cooperate, but we will not compromise.”
Many students at the meeting were troubled by one part in particular: If fraternities discover an underage student drinking at their party, despite all the precautions they may take, including turning him/her over to Public Safety, the president of that organization can still expect to be arrested for serving a minor. While we recognize that the law explicitly states that in the event that an underage person consumes alcohol the “primary resident” of that establishment will be reprimanded, this is an area that requires compromise given the unique circumstances. We realize that simply turning in an underage student for drinking should not automatically preclude legal action, but some sort of middle ground can and should be reached.
The IFC already has a number of rules in place regarding fraternity parties that include registering the event, having bartenders with TIPS training, and sober hosts/drivers, among others. It is our suggestion that these rules be examined by the Troy Police and other concerned groups, and expanded upon if the parties involved feel it is necessary. Then when a fraternity hosts a party it should consent to inspection by the Troy Police to ensure that the agreed-upon measures are in place and actively in use. As was pointed out multiple times at the meeting, it is close to impossible to make certain that no underage person will ever be given alcohol once they are inside the house, but if the inspection is conducted, the police can at least be certain that the fraternity is making every effort and thus can be dealt with more leniently when the fraternity tries to turn in an underage student.
The task force is claiming to seek cooperation from the students, but if the group wants to have any success in curbing underage drinking, they need to be willing to work with fraternities and other groups.
