2008 Woodie Awards
Students must be smarter when going to parties
Issue date: 2/24/06 Section: Opinion
A couple weekends ago, there was a party in downtown Slippery Rock where more than 90 students got charged with disorderly house. They should feel lucky they just got that.
The Slippery Rock Borough Police has a pretty good policy when it comes to getting charged with alcohol violations. Sure, you get a disorderly house violation and up to a $300 fine, but considering it won't go on your permanent record, that can't be half bad. Other schools have much harsher policies.
At California (Pa.), according to the public safety page on the school's Web site, any adult who buys alcohol for someone under 21 gets a mandatory $1,000 fine. Now that's hefty. Any adult at Cal who supplies minors with alcohol could be held liable for any resulting injuries and/or property damaged caused to the minor. With the Slippery Rock Borough Police, everybody got off much easier than that.
At the University of Pittsburgh, you can have a limited amount of alcohol in your dorm (12 12-ounce cans) if it is allowed (some dorms are alcohol-free at Pitt) and you are of age. However, that won't lead to parties, as large quantities of alcohol are prohibited, and the parents are notified if students are in violation. So, even though people are allowed to have alcohol in their dorms (a stark difference from SRU, where it is prohibited in all the residence halls, regardless of age) it doesn't mean people can just have keggers anytime they want in their dorm.
At Saint Francis University, the campus police tries as hard as it can to help people not make the same mistake multiple times. After the first official offense, students get an individual session at the counseling center, go to an educational workshop and have a letter of concern sent to their parents. After a third offense, the Saint Francis student could get dismissed.
Why go into what the official alcohol policies are at other schools? To give a broader perspective to the students at Slippery Rock University, and to inform them that the police in this area aren't the only ones busting people for drinking.
Another thing that needs to be brought up here is that this was a borough police issue, not a campus police issue. The party was occurring downtown, and when there's a party that loud and crazy, what did you expect to happen? The people at that party chose to be there. They knew the risks and if they didn't know the risks, they should have. And for people who complain that this stuff only happens in downtown, well, they may be right. But that's the price you pay for living in a residential area. Not everybody will be keen to wild weekend parties, especially in an area that is known for its conservativeness.
At The Rocket, we feel the policies on alcohol violations at parties are lenient compared to what they could be. If people are at a party, especially underage students, they should weigh the risks before enjoying themselves.
The Slippery Rock Borough Police has a pretty good policy when it comes to getting charged with alcohol violations. Sure, you get a disorderly house violation and up to a $300 fine, but considering it won't go on your permanent record, that can't be half bad. Other schools have much harsher policies.
At California (Pa.), according to the public safety page on the school's Web site, any adult who buys alcohol for someone under 21 gets a mandatory $1,000 fine. Now that's hefty. Any adult at Cal who supplies minors with alcohol could be held liable for any resulting injuries and/or property damaged caused to the minor. With the Slippery Rock Borough Police, everybody got off much easier than that.
At the University of Pittsburgh, you can have a limited amount of alcohol in your dorm (12 12-ounce cans) if it is allowed (some dorms are alcohol-free at Pitt) and you are of age. However, that won't lead to parties, as large quantities of alcohol are prohibited, and the parents are notified if students are in violation. So, even though people are allowed to have alcohol in their dorms (a stark difference from SRU, where it is prohibited in all the residence halls, regardless of age) it doesn't mean people can just have keggers anytime they want in their dorm.
At Saint Francis University, the campus police tries as hard as it can to help people not make the same mistake multiple times. After the first official offense, students get an individual session at the counseling center, go to an educational workshop and have a letter of concern sent to their parents. After a third offense, the Saint Francis student could get dismissed.
Why go into what the official alcohol policies are at other schools? To give a broader perspective to the students at Slippery Rock University, and to inform them that the police in this area aren't the only ones busting people for drinking.
Another thing that needs to be brought up here is that this was a borough police issue, not a campus police issue. The party was occurring downtown, and when there's a party that loud and crazy, what did you expect to happen? The people at that party chose to be there. They knew the risks and if they didn't know the risks, they should have. And for people who complain that this stuff only happens in downtown, well, they may be right. But that's the price you pay for living in a residential area. Not everybody will be keen to wild weekend parties, especially in an area that is known for its conservativeness.
At The Rocket, we feel the policies on alcohol violations at parties are lenient compared to what they could be. If people are at a party, especially underage students, they should weigh the risks before enjoying themselves.
