Honors College cracks down on alcohol

The Honors College has taken steps to discourage its members from underage drinking by implementing a three-strike policy.

In an e-mail sent by Dean of the Honors College Dr. Raymond Green to students, he states a first offense will result in the loss of that student's book scholarship, a second offense would result in a loss of scholarship for the next two semesters, and a third offense would result in the student being removed from the Honors College entirely.

"I had tended toward a one-strike policy, but that did not seem to be working," Green said. "It's just to let the students know up front what the penalty is as opposed to dealing with it on a case by case basis."

Honors College student and sophomore biology major Mary Mason said the change of policy has not affected her very much.

"I'm apathetic about it," Mason said. "That rule hasn't changed me at all, because I'm not stupid enough to get caught. If you are stupid enough to get caught drinking under-age, then yeah, you deserve to be punished."

The e-mail was the second of two sent by Green to Honors College students this semester about underage drinking. Between the e-mails, sent on Sept. 23 and Oct. 25, the University Police Department reported at least three alcohol-related incidents involving students in the Honors College.

On Oct. 17, one student had to be hospitalized after consuming Four Loko and vodka after he had taken a prescribed medication. The following weekend, UPD officers responded to a call involving a potential domestic dispute to find one of the subjects of the supposed incident unable to get up because that person had "drank too much." The next day, another UPD officer arrested one student for consumption of alcohol by a minor.

"There have just been a handful of incidents this semester of students drinking underage that were pretty severe," Green said. "It wasn't just somebody was caught with a beer, it was legal and physical trouble."

Green said it is part of his job to ensure the students remain safe.

"I have a handful of responsibilities as the dean of the Honors College, but two of the biggest are to take care of my students and to protect them, and in terms of that, it would break my heart to see my students hurt themselves, whether legally or physically," he said. "The other responsibility is to maintain the reputation of the Honors College."

UPD Crime Information Officer Jason Bone said while officers do not go out searching for underage drinking, they do take a tough stance on the issue.

"I don't think we set out in particular to look for that," he said. "It's just when we're roaming the halls and see it, we have a zero tolerance policy. If we catch someone, especially underaged, drinking, you will get a citation or you will get arrested. Those are the only two options."

Bone said the reason UPD takes such a stance is because they know what will happen to underage students caught consuming alcohol.

"The law now requires, if you are under-age, that you have an alcohol education course, you will lose your license for 30 days for the first offense, and then you have the associated penalties which could be a fine or jail time," he said. "So it's actually not a bad thing we are zero tolerance, because a lot of times alcohol stuff is an educational thing."

Bone also said the policy was good for younger students who are new to alcohol.

"Especially your younger students that first come in, some of them haven't had alcohol," Bone said. "When you are home in high school, you still have the ‘Mom and dad might catch me' thing. You don't have that here, so some of them tend to go nuts."

Green said he does not see the younger Honors College students as the main source of the problem.

"I would not blame this current class [of freshmen]," he said. "I think they're doing a very good job socially and academically. I am not naïve. I'm sure that for four years now people have been having drinks at times, legally or not. It's just they sort of seem to be increasing, and if we had created the perception we were OK with that, then I wanted to remove that perception."

Green also said he has heard good things from Honors College students about the new policy.

"I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from students that they're happy a public stance was taken on the best way to behave," he said.