Deliberating TCNJ’s Alcohol Policy

The alcohol policies at The College of New Jersey were recently called into question, a result of the upset among the senior class upon learning that alcohol would be banned during the traditional Senior Week celebration. Coincidentally, as a project for a political science class, students chose to hold a forum discussing possible alcohol policies at the College.

“It is a very appropriate and great topic to pick,” said William Ball, professor of the course.

The course, POL390 “Deliberative Democracy,” focuses on creating policy through discussion and bases new policies on input by many, not just a select few.

Five tables of five to 10 people discussed three different approaches to the College’s alcohol policy. Participants included students, faculty, Vice President of Student Life Jim Norfleet, two campus police officers and interim provost Beth Paul.

The first approach was the notion that the College’s policy should strictly adhere to the law. Some participants agreed that the law should not waver on a college campus.

“When it comes to alcohol, the drinking age is not 18, it’s 21,” said Norfleet. “When a majority of the campus is underage, you can’t just let them drink—it’s the law.”

Others thought this approach was impractical, and that there is no way to catch everyone disobeying the law.

“[Enforcing the law on a college campus] assumes that students have 100 percent respect and acceptance of the law,” said Jon Borst, senior English major and executive director of the Student Finance Board.

The consensus for the first approach was mainly that the law should be enforced if the drinking escalates into alcohol abuse and alcoholism or vandalism and physical abuse of others.

The second approach discussed was focused on educating students about the dangers of drinking and how to know their limit.

Shawna Scott, junior psychology major, said that educating students does not mean that the College is accepting that students will drink, but “emphasizing that the College is concerned about the safety of the students,” instead of just telling students not to drink entirely.

“Education doesn’t necessarily mean you’re encouraging drinking,” Scott said.

But, as of now, most educational programs about drinking are held during Welcome Week, before freshman students get fully acquainted with the campus and their new lifestyles. Participants also pointed out that “LollaNoBooza,” which is supposed to emphasize being alcohol-free, does not actually hold any educational programs. Instead, the event has come to be associated with playing games and getting prizes.

The majority of participants agreed that all students, not just those underage, should participate in College-run alcohol education programs, and that these programs should be ongoing, not just at the start of freshman year.

The third and final approach discussed focused on the health needs of individual students. One suggestion was that a student caught excessively drunk should get one warning, and then any offense after that would require the student to seek counseling.

The College’s Alcohol and Drug Education Program (ADEP) is the only well-known source for help on campus, but participants at the forum agreed that students will not likely seek help voluntarily.  The third approach would make it the College’s responsibility to help students who seem to have individual problems with alcohol.

Daria Silvestro, senior English and secondary education major, pointed out that the drinking habits of students at any college are far more excessive than people out of college.

“Anyone drinking outside of college [with the habits of those in college] would be considered an alcoholic,” Silvestro said.

“There are a lot of people affected by our [students’] decisions,” said Marisa Hourdajian, sophomore philosophy major. She brought up the issue that not only is the campus community affected by students drinking, but also residents of the Ewing community.

All participants were in favor that the College needs to offer educational programs on alcohol more frequently in order for the programs to have any affect on students.

“[My table] concluded that it would definitely help if there were more big events other than ‘Welcome Week’ as a source of fun for students,” said Mike Skepner, senior political science major and class member who served as a moderator. “But, the overwhelming obstacle is for students to overcome the feeling that they need alcohol as a way of feeling comfortable in social settings.”

A report on the evening's discussion will be assembled and provided to the administration and TCNJ Commission on the Prevention of Alcohol Abuse. For more information, contact William Ball, ball@tcnj.edu.