Colby College now selling cheap drinks

[hoosier]

February 13, 2005



Students may drink at meals

By CHRIS CHURCHILL
Staff Writer

WATERVILLE -- On some Friday nights, students at Colby College can sit down to dinner and savor two beverages found in few college dining halls: beer and wine.

The program began last fall and was initiated by the Student Government Association. It's intended to teach students to drink in moderation while showing an alternative to the binge drinking common on college campuses.

The program began tentatively. On three Friday nights during the fall semester, alcohol was available in Dana Dining Hall to students 21 and over. Students paid $1 per alcoholic drink and were limited to two.

Not surprisingly, the program was popular with students -- at least those of drinking age. But the program was also popular with college administrators, who have decided to expand it to most Friday nights during the spring semester.

"I think people have appreciated it because it's a good way to show that alcohol can be handled in a good and responsible manner," said Janice Kassman, the school's Dean of Students. "We've had only good comments."

Colby officials believe the program is unique in Maine and say they've received inquiries from other liberal arts schools looking to replicate it. They say they've had no complaints from parents.

In a way, the program bucks a trend. It comes as many school are eliminating all on-campus drinking in an effort to reduce the estimated 1,400 alcohol-related deaths that occur each year on college campuses.

But Colby officials say they hope their program will help change the culture around alcohol.

"The purpose is education," said Varun Avashthi, the colleges director of dining services. "The whole point is that the students recognize that you don't have to binge drink or abstain. There is middle ground."

Colby attempts to make the experience informative. An expert on wine and beer sometimes lectures as the students drink.

At the first session, the owner of the Allagash brewery in Portland came to explain how beer is made.

"The students like it," Avashthi said. "They enjoy every aspect of it."

Avashthi said he had no reservations at the start of the program, mostly because he also runs Colby's on-campus tavern and says he's never seen students misbehave there.

But Kassman admitted having misgivings at the program's beginning, if only because she feared that people would perceive Colby as encouraging students -- especially underage students -- to drink.

"I didn't want people to think we had lost our minds," Kassman said.

Two students initiated the project: Catherine Welch, president of student government, and Adelin Cai, vice president. Both have experience in other nations, and both were puzzled by the attitude toward alcohol on American college campuses.

Cai, who is from Singapore, said students there tend not to think of heavy drinking as a rite of passage, and said the dining- hall drinking experience provides a nice change of pace, giving students a different view of drinking, and sets an example of civilized behavior.

Maine beers have proven particularly popular with students. Cai, however, is hoping to diversify the selection.

"I put in a request for beers from Singapore and Asia," she said.