New Alcohol Policies Spark Controversy

Providence College students received a seemingly unsuspecting mass e-mail the week before classes started. The e-mail, from Chris Fortunato, dean of students and associate vice president of Student Affairs Administration, was entitled, "A Message to all Providence College Students from the Associate Vice President of Student Affairs." His e-mail first discussed new changes that will be announced in the near future concerning the shuttle service and renovations to Slavin Center. Under the heading of "New Health/Safety Guidelines" other serious issues were addressed further in the letter. Fortunato announced that the College's old policies on alcohol had been revised and that all students must familiarize themselves with them in the Student Handbook available on PC's Web site.

"All students are expected to read, know and follow these and other guidelines which are discussed in detail in the updated Student Handbook available as of August 29, 2008 on the Student Life page on the PC website," he wrote.

No link to the Student Life page was provided in the e-mail. Fortunato did make it clear that as part of the new policies no hard alcohol will be permitted on campus with the exception of McPhail's. No other policies were discussed or listed in the message.

Upon their arrival at school all students were also made aware of the new policies by hall directors at their respective hall meetings. Freshman students were required to attend "open community forums," at times assigned according to residence hall on Thursday, Sept. 4, to discuss the new policies - even though almost all freshmen are not legally able to drink. Forums were held on Friday, Sept. 5 in '64 Hall for upperclassmen at three separate times, 12:00 p.m., 1:30 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. Attendance for upperclassmen-mostly the only students on campus legally able to drink-was optional. Steven Sears, Ph.D., dean of Residence Life, sent out an e-mail on Thursday morning, Sept. 4, notifying all students of the forums where he wrote, "Representatives of the Student Affairs Administration will be holding open community forums to discuss these [alcohol policy] changes." In addition to Sears' e-mail, flyers were also posted in residence halls across campus.

Many members of the administration were present at the forums including, Kevin Butler, dean of Judicial Affairs, Maureen F. Quinlan, associate dean of Office of Student Conduct, Sears, and Fortunato. Fortunato handled the majority of questions concerning new policies. He briefly talked about future changes to the Slavin Center and to the shuttle, but he acknowledged that students did not want to talk about those changes.

"I know that a lot of you are not here to talk about changes to this building [Slavin] or changes in transportation," said Fortunato.

In Fortuanto's e-mail he informed students that major changes to the alcohol policy on campus had been made including, but not limited to, the banning of hard alcohol on campus, with the exception of McPhail's.

Fortunato began the discussion about alcohol policies by affirming that the student community at PC does in fact exhibit symptoms of an alcohol abuse problem, which the Committee on Campus Culture, Conduct and Civility (the 4Cs) has documented.

"We definitely do have this problem," said Fortunato. "The numbers speak for themselves."

During the 2007-2008 academic year, 70 students were transported to the hospital to receive medical attention after consuming excessive amounts alcohol, and 1,100 students were cited for alcohol violations.

"What we had in place does not work," said Fortunato.

PC based its new alcohol policy on suggestions from an expert at the University of Washington's center for addiction studies, and other alcohol policies implemented by different colleges and universities around the country.

"There was no college or institution out there that had the 'silver bullet,'" said Fortunato.

He insisted that PC looked at schools both like it in size and education, as well as schools dissimilar schools. The policy in place is a synthesis of the policies which are functional for PC.

The first issue of concern which opened up more heated dialogue was the way in which students were notified about the changes. Jamie Scambio '10, junior class president, was disappointed with the availability of the new guidelines. She felt that the new policies were not accessible enough to students, and as a result students may not be aware of all the changes and may receive alcohol violations.

Fortunato agreed with Scambio that the dissemination of the policies had not been as widespread as it could have been, which prompted the forums, and ensured her that the policies as listed in the handbook would be made more accessible to students.

"A lot of this happened in relatively short order, towards the end of the summer," said Fortunato, who has only been working at PC for the last six months. "We know that it is unfair to expect things of people who don't know what is going on . . . . I think more publicity could have happened and more publicity is going to happen, and I invite any suggestions and ways to do that."

Work on the new alcohol policies began at the beginning of the summer recess and were refined and revised intensely over the course of the summer. According to Fortunato, Student Affairs did not want to have a partially completed policy upon students' return in September, and did not want to roll out policy changes in phases. Certain changes to the Student Handbook also needed to receive approval from the General Council's Office, which can be a lengthy process.

"There was no intention to slip this under the radar screen," said Fortunato. "Something like this is not going to go under anyone's radar screen at all, and we're looking to have an on-going conversation about this . . . But we had to decide; now that we've made this decision, now that we think this is in the best interest of the students, we had to get this information out there, and so we sent it out as quickly as we could. I would have loved it [the revised Student Handbook] to have been out months before. We weren't ready."

Another major issue that concerned students is the application of on-campus policies to those living off-campus.

"That's not changed," said Fortunato. "There's nothing new about that. That's always been the way it is. And that's the way it is at most other colleges and universities."

PC has always had the same policies in place for those living off-campus as those living on campus. However, under the new rules, upperclassmen living off-campus, 21 and over, are not permitted to have any hard alcohol in their possession, to store it in their common refrigerators if everyone in the house is not 21 years-old, or to have in their possession more than a six pack of beer per student 21 years or over, or the equivalent in wine. Technically they cannot have more than double the number of people who reside at the house in the house at one time, and they must register any parties with Residence Life. It is possible for a student to be penalized by Student Affairs for violating the new alcohol policies, even if the violation occurred off-campus.

"The rationale for this is that you have signed on to Providence College . . . the College has a certain set of values, a certain code of conduct and standards, that I have to say, all of you and your families by coming here signed on to be a part of," said Fortunato. "And, I think it's a reasonable expectation for us to hold you to those standards not because we can or because we want to, but because that's part of the community that you've decided to be a part of."

The lacking participation of the 4Cs committee also raised eyebrows among students. Fortunato admitted that he was not a member of the 4Cs committee and that there was no representative from the 4Cs committee at the forums. He said that Student Affairs had taken the 4Cs report and suggestions into consideration when writing the new policies; however, it is the responsibility of Student Affairs to implement change.

Hard alcohol was also a subject of concern among students 21 and older. One student said that he felt that the ban on hard alcohol was targeting students legally able to drink, which he felt was unfair.

The prohibition of hard alcohol came as a result of an examination of the causes for hospital transports and alcohol infractions. Upon examination, Fortunato said, a majority of students transported after drinking excessively were drinking hard alcohol. Most alcohol violations involved hard alcohol as well. Those students transported and written up for alcohol violations were not exclusively freshmen and sophomores. Student Affairs does not want hard alcohol to be easily accessible to freshman and sophomores either, so they chose to ban hard alcohol on campus, with the exception of McPhail's where trained bar tenders serve standard drinks to legal students.

"We are changing what some of you believe is your right and ability to, especially if you're over 21, to consume hard alcohol on this campus," said Fortunato. "I'm not going to deny that. We are asking something different of you than you were used to, and we're doing so because we're looking at the entire community, what the community needs are, and not because we're coming up with these ideas on our own."

Legal students are now limited as to where they can drink on campus. The Student Handbook states, "Students age 21 years or older may NOT consume, possess or store alcohol in the common areas of individual suites and apartments if any resident of the suite/apartment is under age 21. Moreover, students may not consume alcohol or possess open containers of alcohol in these common areas during any time when guests/visitors under the age of 21 are present. Students 21 years or older may consume, store, or possess alcohol in the privacy of their individual residence hall rooms except as prescribed by law or other policies in the Student Handbook."

This new policy worried some students who are legally able to drink. They argued that the policy encouraged binge drinking among upperclassmen and drinking alone, which is considered to be a sign of alcoholism. Fortunato said that was not the intention of the policy and he does not believe that it encourages alcoholism. Student Affairs concluded that allowing students of age to drink in their rooms was more reasonable than not allowing them to drink anywhere on campus.

"Is it a perfect system? No, it's not," said Fortunato. "Do I think it's going to incentivize people who have alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence problems to hide their drinking in their rooms? No. I really don't."

After over an hour of discussion Fortunato finally ended the day of forums, ensuring students that this was only the first round of dialogue between themselves and the administration.

Fortunato did support ideas to open discussions beyond students and the administration and include Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P., president of Providence College, and the Dominican Friars.

But students left the forums with more questions concerning how and why the new alcohol policies were enacted.

"I think it's great that there's an open dialogue," said Scambio after the forum. "But there are many questions that went unanswered. I think it was due to a time constraint rather than a lack of wanting on the administration's part."