By Whitney Ricketts

Whitney Ricketts

Staff Writer

Bryn Mawr and Haverford, like most colleges, uphold the Pennsylvania State drinking age of 21 and have their own additional policies. Bryn Mawr requires student hosts to attend training sessions before they are granted the opportunity to throw a party. “Students are given trust, freedom and flexibility,” states BMC Director of Residential Life, Angie Sheets, “and we, in turn, ask them to be responsible when serving alcohol.” Pennsylvania law states that no one under the age of 21 may consume or possess alcohol.

Bryn Mawr’s policy adheres to the same regulations but trusts students’ judgement. “We are not there to monitor the parties; we trust the students with that responsibility,” adds Sheets.

John Maloney, BMC Director of Public Safety, says, “We ask students to be responsible.” It is this reactive policy that differs from those of neighboring campuses. Both Haverford and Bryn Mawr policies entrust students with both the responsibility and freedom to monitor their own events. “Villanova is a strictly dry campus and yet each weekend the emergency rooms are filled,” said Maloney, noting that “you cannot ignore the fact that there is a fair amount of drinking on campus, be it underage or of legal age.”

The bi-college community effectively addresses this problem by acknowledging that students are probably going to drink under-age, while simultaneously expecting them to behave responsibly. “Bryn Mawr leans toward trusting students,” stated Sheets. “We set high expectations and trust the students to live up to them.”

While there are few incidents involving alcohol on both Bryn Mawr and Haverford campuses, the amount has risen in recent years. In both 1999 and 2000, there were fourteen logged calls to BMC public safety concerning intoxication. In 2001, there were eighteen.

Asked if the increase in number involved an increase in the number of intoxicated freshman, Maloney responded that only three of the logged calls concerned freshman. Yet Maloney feels that underage drinking is more dangerous among freshman. “My impression is that freshmen continually find themselves in precarious situations,” he said.

The officers on duty are often disconcerted by the activity, added Maloney, noting that “many individual officers are incredibly worried about the safety of the students.” What it comes down to, Maloney says, is individual responsibility. “There are many students who know what they’re doing with regard to alcohol and many who don’t.”

“Freshman year is one of learning and some students do it better than others,” noted Hall Advisor Stephanie Williams. This past weekend, Williams was called to pick her freshman up from a party at Haverford after they had missed the last bus.

“I am confident that they know what to do if they find themselves in an unsafe situation,” Williams said. “They know who to call to get out of there.”

This alleviates most of her worry, knowing that her freshmen are aware that there are resources available to them. “A party is a party,” she adds with a laugh, “but my girls know that if things get out of hand, they should get out of there.”

Freshman often find themselves with many opportunities to drink and this abundance often causes some to lose control. “Some know the ropes before they get here and others have to learn quickly,” stated John Maloney. “My impression is that, in general, freshmen are very vulnerable [to the dangers of partying].”

The myth, however, that Bryn Mawr police are not allowed to come onto campus, is untrue. If they are called, it is within their jurisdiction to step into a party and evaluate the scene, said Maloney. “We have had very few incidents involving the local police department in the time that I’ve been here [nine years],” noted Maloney. “We ask our students to be responsible and entrust them with freedoms that other schools do not allow.”

“Bryn Mawr does a great job in acknowledging that there is underage drinking going on,” said Maggie Tucker, a freshman from Illinois. “If they were to ignore it, as in Villanova’s case, they would merely displace the consumption to other campuses.”

The nearby Villanova apartments are an illustration of that displacement. “We feel that if we provide students with the resources and the freedom to have parties on campus,” says Sheets, “they are in turn more responsible and much safer than if they were forced to look beyond our campus for that scene.”

“Compared to my friends’ schools where alcohol is outlawed,” notes Rachel Birch, BMC, ‘06, “Bryn Mawr does a wonderful job in acknowledging the problem instead of ignoring it.”

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