Thursday, March 27, 2008

LSC's alcohol and substance use policy

3/27/08

By Joey Stewart
Special to the Critic


According to Vermont State College’s Manual of Policy and Procedures, policy number 306, that pertains to alcohol and substance use on campuses, states:

1. Alcohol shall be sold only by a licensed vendor approved by the Office of the Chancellor of Vermont State Colleges and only as authorized by the Statutes and regulations of the State of Vermont and/or any other appropriate authority.

2. Scheduled use of alcohol on the premises of Vermont State Colleges shall be appropriately supervised and subject to reasonable control.

3. Use of Vermont State Colleges controlled funds, premises, personnel, facilities, services or equipment in connection with any function or event which involves the unlawful use of alcohol, is prohibited.

4. Any use of alcohol, legal or otherwise, which results in the disruption of the academic and/or social climate of the individual institution will be subject to an appropriate disciplinary response.

Yet even with such procedures and regulations in place, many of the incidences that are deemed disruptive on college campuses are usually alcohol related.

Ryanne Ayers, a Residential Assistant in Wheelock for Lyndon State College, stated that, “All of the incidences of disruptive behavior that I have personally dealt with on campus were alcohol related, but then again, I have not really dealt with all that many.”

“Many of the offenses that we deal with involve alcohol,” said George Hacking, director of Public Safety at LSC.

Violations of school policies, as well as violations of state law on campus are normally all alcohol related, Hacking said.

According to the “Statement of Policy” in the Manual of Policy and Procedures, “Consumption of alcohol by any person upon Vermont State Colleges controlled premises shall be only as authorized by statutes and regulations of the State of Vermont and/or any other appropriate authority and shall conform to local institutional and town policies and/or regulations.”

“Our rules on campus coincide with Vermont State laws,” said Ayers.

Gary Thorne, a play-by-play announcer for ESPN and ABC, stated in an article for USA TODAY, titled, “Alcohol-related incidents take joy out of sports 'celebrations'” that, “Binge drinking is an enormous problem on college campuses. Such drinking often occurs around college sporting events. Alcohol and athletes are united and show up at every level of sports in bar brawls and parking lot shootings.”

“Every college has its share of drinking and it seems like there is more here because our campus is small, but I don’t think it’s any worse here than anywhere else,” said Ayers.

George Hacking stated that he doesn’t support the drinking age being lowered to 18, because he has seen many 18-19 year olds on campus who can’t handle alcohol, “Twenty-one isn’t a magic number, but if one has to be set, it’s a good one.”

“I would eliminate it from the residence halls,” continued Hacking, “and I would not be opposed to an on-campus pub-type club that had food, but served some alcohol.”

Students could sit and drink, but take alcohol to their rooms, no under age people would be served, and it would teach people how to handle alcohol in social settings—Hacking said.

When asked what he thought about LSC becoming a dry campus, Hacking stated, “I don’t see where it would change anything. People would still break the rules. They’re doing it now, so what’s one more rule going to do.”

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