Alcohol policy excessive

By Editorial

The Santa Clara reported last week that the number of alcohol violations among students living on campus are down this year in relation to years past.

This decline comes after the Healthy Campus Committee amended the alcohol policy by outlining specific, more stringent, penalties for campus residents that break the rules.

The more severe punishments -- namely a $50 fine for first-time offenders, as well as an "educational sanction," which could require such things as a reflective paper or community service -- are steps toward what Assistant Dean for Student Life Matthew Duncan calls an overall plan "to reduce the high-risk use and illegal use of alcohol at Santa Clara University."

Though the visions of Duncan and the Healthy Campus Committee (which is comprised of students, faculty and staff) to reduce the amount of dangerous drinking are noble, there is no possibility that the school will achieve any significant results from the newly-implemented standards.

College students are college students. They are going to drink, and many of them are going to drink in high consumption. Duncan acknowledged this, saying that the new policies aren't going to "deter all students," but that having clearer guidelines will keep some from violating the policy.

"If the perception is out there that nothing big will happen, students would be less likely to abide by the policy," Duncan said. "If they know, 'hey, here's the risk if I do this,' then they're more likely to take that into consideration."

They may consider it, but these sanctions will only make on-campus students smarter about how they party. Residents will be more attentive of Community Facilitators patrolling their floor. They'll turn down the music or shut their doors when they need to. Or, they'll just go off campus to a party. The last should be the greatest concern to the university.

"There's just as much drinking," said Swig CF Tommy Duross, who agreed that students are getting smarter, calling the new standards "excessive."

Duross has issued four documentations for alcohol use, but admits that it's difficult to write-up students when money becomes involved, or there's a risk that a student could get kicked out and not have a place to live.

One thing should be noted: According to Duncan, concrete results of the new policies won't be known until 2006, which means linking the lower number of violations to the new sanctions is pure speculation.

Regardless, there are no standards that would reduce the illegal use or high-risk use of drinking. These sanctions only discourage typical nightlife fun at a college campus. For a university that wants to house the majority of undergraduates on campus, these policies will only compel students to move away from here that much sooner.