Alchohol

hootchpdt · #1 05-21-2003, 05:35 AM

Dear Greek Brothers and Sisters, we need to do something about all the alchohol at events. I'm not talking about formals or a wine & cheese social, I'm talking about rush, pledge events, socials, and just bad parties. It is giving every organization a bad name and we need to stop it. We have had too many alchohol related deaths, and we all know how largely publicized these incidents become. I'm not going to sit up here and tell people to not drink, or to not have parties, or to not have alchohol at certain functions, but please, please, do it responsibly and with risk management. If we can get this under control, who knows how large each of our groups can becom?

Josh

steelepike · #2 05-21-2003, 06:09 AM

Rush is completly dry here as well as the houses. There are parties but they are held at houses of older members. I agree alcohol abuse is rampant in the greek system but if there was no greek system its not like it would stop, there wouldn't be anything to blame it on.

RACooper · #3 05-21-2003, 11:38 AM

In my case all the "formal" rush events hosted by the house were dry. However all events end at 10pm (in case they had class, practice, long commute, whatever) and if they went to the same bar as us oh well (some did, some went clubbing). The thing is here that well pretty much up until this year the vast majority (around 80%) of first-years could leagally drink.

So here is a scenario for you:
A formal rush event, deck BBQ, is held at the house. Now no booze is purchased by the house for Rush, nor is any member allowed to offer a rush booze (well before 10pm). However every active member present and alumni is legally allowed the right have there own. So a rush chair my job was to make sure that the members didn't offer booze or drink to much themselves as they worked the BBQ, or relaxed on the deck. Here's the thing..... some rush simply went and bought some beer or booze and then brought it to the house. I for one didn't mind.... I wanted to see how they acted around the drinking, were they resposible or complete jackasses (which 2 ex-rushes turned out to be). They event went smoothly and the members kept everything in check until around 11pm before making plans for which bar/party/club to hit. Please note that a consultant was there and our HQ offical line in DRY RUSH.

Now I can seen were this event could have gone wrong, or be taken advantage of. I do understand IHQ's position on booze, but that is based on US laws and perceptions. If I was to tell a rush that we don't allow them to drink during rush our recruitment would drop to 0 (I know they tried that one year). We do not allow keg's or host booze soaked parties, and if a member shows signs of trouble we will and have stepped in. We also respect those who choose not to drink, whether for religious, social, or personal reasons (our Alumni advisor is a non-drinker as well as 3 new members). One thing that we are all aware of is the negative image that greeks have in the media regarding drinking, and we try to downplay it (you can't eliminate it). But the enviroment here is a little different that US schools: we have alcohol companies that sponsor events around frosh week, 80% of frosh can and do drink, and it is considered perfectly normal to go out for a pint after class with your classmates, TA, or prof. Hell, up until this year one of the residences hosted free Keg pre-pub parties once a month (all paid for by you residence fees); and when canceled upset alot of alumni and staff.

I for one am a huge advocate of responsiblity.... if you aren't responsible than cut back or stop; no excuses. Nothing is worse than a bad drunk.

Kevin · #4 05-21-2003, 12:29 PM

Our school's rush is dry. However, 'inexplicably' every year, signees of certain houses that visit us are knee-walking drunk. I don't think I'd want to extend a bid to them anyway -- especially in that condition.

RACooper · #5 05-21-2003, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ktsnake
Our school's rush is dry. However, 'inexplicably' every year, signees of certain houses that visit us are knee-walking drunk. I don't think I'd want to extend a bid to them anyway -- especially in that condition.

Heh on that I agree... if someone shows up to a rush event rocked of his ass it shows a lack of respect for himself and us....

archangel689 · #6 05-21-2003, 11:33 PM

Our university supresses everything... but at what cost? Freshman will always drink. Students will always drink.

The key is to keep it responsible.

DeltAlum · #7 05-22-2003, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by archangel689
Our university supresses everything... but at what cost? Freshman will always drink. Students will always drink.

The key is to keep it responsible.

But we don't and haven't. So the university and GLO's are backed into a corner and have to enforce invasive rules due to liability, etc.

SAEalumnus · #8 05-22-2003, 12:22 AM

I completely agree with Josh, but at the same time, I also believe that most people who join Greek organizations do so for the sake of parties and alcohol and that sort of thing. Those of us who choose to be responsible are in the minority. I know this is a negative perspective to have on the Greek community, but I've seen enough evidence of it to believe it.

DeltAlum · #9 05-22-2003, 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SAEactive
I completely agree with Josh, but at the same time, I also believe that most people who join Greek organizations do so for the sake of parties and alcohol and that sort of thing. Those of us who choose to be responsible are in the minority. I know this is a negative perspective to have on the Greek community, but I've seen enough evidence of it to believe it.

Everyone needs to read the thread called "Huh" in the Risk Management forum, and then revisit their thoughts on threads like this one.

Josh is fairly new, and this has been debated many times before, but not under the new legal situation being attempted.

Please read it and think carefully about the possible ramifications for the entire fraternity system.

hootchpdt · #10 05-22-2003, 04:19 AM

i think you were reading too far into what i was saying. i was not saying that we should not drink or even have alchohol at functions. i was saying that some groups may be too alchohol dependent and those are the minority of groups that are getting everyone in trouble with the media and school officials. alchohol is fine, in moderation. dont make every even alchoholic, dont make rush wet, and if there is going to be alchohol at an event, use your risk management procedures. i am not gonna sit here and sound like a preacher. i drink, my colony (chapter in 2 weeks) as a whole drinks, but we have dry rush and dry events. after the event, yeah, drink if you want. we just need to be responsible, people. thats all i was trying to say. if we dont give the media a negative thing to see about us, they cant say anything negative. granted, all press is good press, but not when its about a pledge dying from alchohol poisoning following some ritual binge drinking and hazing. actions speak louder than words and tomorrow's leaders are in today's fraternities and sororities. if you aren't the lead dog, the scenery never changes. are you looking at different trees or at someone else's ass?

josh

DeltAlum · #11 05-22-2003, 11:28 AM

Josh,

Some most interesting (mixed) metaphors. I only take issue with one thing you've said.

All press is NOT good press. The old line, "You can say anything you want about me as long as you get the name right," is disproven.

As a system we suffer terribly from news coverage -- some (maybe most) warranted, some not.

So far, there has been a lot of lip service given to moderation, but reality still comes back to binge drinking, underage drinking, drunkeness and the like.

I'm no prohibitionist -- I've enjoyed drinking since before high school. But I'm also a fraternity advisor/volunteer with a strong background in broadcasting (much of it in newsrooms) who receives Risk Management bulletins and hears the kind of corporate problems we face.

RACooper · #12 05-22-2003, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SAEactive
I completely agree with Josh, but at the same time, I also believe that most people who join Greek organizations do so for the sake of parties and alcohol and that sort of thing. Those of us who choose to be responsible are in the minority. I know this is a negative perspective to have on the Greek community, but I've seen enough evidence of it to believe it.

Okay I can see the arguement for this in the case of people joining being underage.... however how do those who can drink legally act? Are they more responsible (less binge, or drink to get drunk)? Or do they act just like the underage drinkers?

The reason I ask is next year pretty much all the 1st years will be underage for the first time (well in the last 30 years or so) at my school. I have dealt with the issue from the school's point of view, which invovled a gradual reduction in "wet" events, and the elimination of residence "keggers" (though that one will take a while despite the school's wishes). GLO are have not been recognized by the school since 1960 so..... there has been no concerted effort to look at the issue from the GLO perspective. I want to know more so as to get a heads up for the upcoming year and future years.

hootchpdt · #13 05-22-2003, 08:25 PM

we are our brothers/sisters keepers and we need to be responsible enough to keep them in check with alchohol. didnt mean to confuse anyone with my analogies, i get carried away sometimes. but it will take a bold person to stand up in their chapter meeting and say "hey, we need to make an example to potential rushees and show them how much fun it can be without alchohol." i am from a school that has a little over 8,000 students and a greek community of about 150. no houses. we have a shitload of fun, but if i transfered to a big school, i would be on overload. im sure you have seniority at your chapters. if you see a member getting stupid drunk, call seniority on him/her and say "you are done for the night, go to bed or drink some water" or something along those lines. in a perfect world, everyone would be responsible enough to know their limit and not do anything stupid. unfortunately, we all have to serve our duty as baby sitters for the drunk. and that is no fun. if people can be responsible enough to not let themselves get to f.u.b.a.r., then nobody would have to babysit them and everyone would have a lot more fun.

josh

p.s. for those of you who have never seen "full metal jacket", f.u.b.a.r. is Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition