Mixing alcohol and Yale's colleges

On Fri., Sept. 26, Scott Krueger, a freshman at Massachusetts Institute of Technology was discovered unconscious in his room at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house. Krueger had consumed at least 15 drinks at a fraternity event that evening and was rushed to the hospital in an alcohol-induced coma. He was taken off life support the following Monday.

JOSIAH LEIGHTON/YH

MIT and the surrounding Boston community were shocked by the event, and action was quick and decisive. In the words of MIT Undergraduate Dean Rosalind H. Williams, "As it is written, MIT's alcohol policy is tough: we in the faculty and administration need to be much tougher in enforcing it, and we will do this, starting immediately."

The weeks following Krueger's death saw a voluntary suspension of the serving of alcohol in MIT's fraternities and housing facilities, an ongoing investigation of all the Institute's alcohol policies and prevention programs, and the planning of a new undergraduate dorm to lure more students into university housing. Since the incident, students and administrators have participated in a series of discussions, and the Boston city council met with area college students to discuss underage drinking issues.

Yale is not MIT. MIT students are scattered in different types of housing; the vast majority of Yalies live in the University's residential colleges. MIT's fraternities are the backbone of the Institute's social life and drinking scene; much of Yale's alcohol activity takes place within 500 feet of a college Master.

Nevertheless, underage binge drinking at Yale is a reality. "I haven't done any scientific study," Dean of Student Affairs Betty Trachtenberg stated. "[But] we've taken a lot more kids to the emergency room for alcohol [lately]." Many of Yale's residential college Masters have also noticed this trend. "It seems that the amount of very heavy drinking has increased," Silliman Master Kelly Brownell said. "The number of people who have ended up in the hospital has gone up."

While a grand jury investigates the MIT incident, one is left to wonder: who would be responsible if an underage Yalie sustained a alcohol-related injury from drinking at a private party in a residential college? And what should the University do to prevent it?

Enforcing the Law

As long as a "private social function" (see box, page seven) is registered with the college's Master's Office and does not disturb other college residents, Yale authorities will not interfere. "We don't go around and prowl entryway by entryway.... We don't consider it to be part of our job," Ezra Stiles Master Paul Fry said.

Yale police will also not interfere unless called upon. "Most of the calls we're going to handle are when someone is incapacitated. In that case, we're going to get medical attention," Assistant Police Chief James Perrotti said. Perrotti reported that Yale police typically respond to a private party only if notified that it is in violation of University policy.

The issue is as much philosophical as it is logistical. Yale's Masters and Administration share the attitude that students at parties are responsible for adhering to University guidelines. "When people live in a community, they ought to know what the community norms are--students should take responsibility for what they do," Trachtenberg explained. "We don't have a Gestapo....We don't go into private rooms. We trust the students." Calhoun Master William Sledge said that once he meets with party hosts to make sure they understand Yale's guidelines, the issue becomes one of trust. "We don't go around checking to make sure [private parties] comply with the rules--we expect people to live up to their word. We're not police people."

FILE PHOTO Dealing with underage drinking is a complicated issue for Yale's residential college masters. On one hand, they don't want to play the role of enforcer; on the other hand, they feel responsible for what goes on within their colleges.

Residential college Masters are put in a difficult position. Many want to be a part of the social life of their colleges and avoid playing the role of enforcer. Yet by immersing themselves in the college's social life, Masters will witness underage drinking violations.

"I don't go to a party as an enforcer of drinking rules; I go there because I like to support all student activities to the extent that I can," Branford Master Steven Smith said. "[But] if I feel it's out of control I can and have done things." Because Connecticut raised of the drinking age from 19 to 21 in 1985 (a change that Trachtenberg and many Masters do not support, yet must enforce), most residential college parties house underage drinkers.

"The master is in a difficult situation about where the line can be drawn--except that it is the law," Jonathan Edwards Master Gary Haller said.

Sledge added, "It is an ambiguous role that requires a lot of judgment and tact. [But] Yale students, compared to their cohorts [at other schools], are much more mature, thoughtful, and under control."

Filing Suit

Though excessive drinking exists and is often left up to students to monitor, Yale is not immune to serious incident. Ten years ago, the 1986-87 academic year saw the alcohol- overdose death of Ted McGuire, SM '89, in his room after his suitemates failed to seek medical attention. Silliman Dean Hugh Flick could not recall legal action taken against Yale in response to McGuire's death. Yet who would be held responsible at a private residential college party?

Flick, who researched social host liability laws in Connecticut with respect to underage drinking, if a host illegally served an underage student who later died, the host could be in legal hot water. "If someone at a registered party fell down the stairs and died, that person's family would sue the host of the party and [his or her] parents," Flick said.

Flick points to a precedent-setting case in Connecticut almost 10 years ago. In the 1988 case of Ely v. Murphy, the court found that "one who provides alcohol to minors [is not protected] from liability for ensuing injury." Flick's casenote concluded, "It is inevitable that people who continue to ignore the Connecticut legal drinking age will find themselves in court and on the losing end of large financial judgments." According to Flick, "The case is precedent for any private person in the state of Connecticut."

Yale Law Professor Peter Schuck believes that the University would also be ripe for a lawsuit. "Yale is damned if it does, damned if it doesn't [enforce the Undergraduate Regulations]. If it gets involved, then everything it does is going to be scrutinized and will be judged with the clarity of hindsight.... It's easy to identify stuff Yale might have done that it didn't," Schuck said. "The host would certainly be as liable as Yale, [but] Yale is a very attractive defendant. It would not be very appealing to sue a student or a student organization."

FILE PHOTO

According to Schuck, "Yale is deeply implicated and would be susceptible to liability in a wide variety of circumstances." He explained that Yale could be sued as a landowner "with dangerous activities" that "has a responsibility to keep conditions and activities responsible and safe." Schuck pointed out that since Yale gives advance approval to a party at which alcohol will be served, a plaintiff could "use the fact that Yale...approved it without looking into it."

Schuck cautioned, however, that the outcome of such a lawsuit would be highly contingent on the facts of the case. Flick even predicted that Yale could escape liability in a court decision. "Yale might be held liable initially, but through appeal, Yale would be able to wiggle out," he said.

But according to Flick, liability issues change completely when University funding is involved, or if an authority figure witnesses underage drinking at the private party. "If somebody in authority goes to a party, knowingly observes underage drinking, and does nothing to stop it, Yale is absolutely liable," Flick said. "If the University were to fund a private party, that would be totally against all Undergraduate Regulations.... It's horrible. If Yale money is going towards the purchase of alcohol, Yale is serving it."

Trachtenberg said that enforcement is left to the colleges. And while some residential colleges strictly enforce the funding policy, others do provide funding in some form for private parties. Calhoun SAC President Mike Milliken, CC '98, reported that Calhoun's SAC has subsidized the purchase of alcohol for private biweekly parties in student rooms. He remarked that while the hosts are 21, underage students do attend the parties. Saybrook's party suites also receive financial support from the college, but party suite resident Somer Khanlarian, SY '99, explained that the college "really doesn't want [the money] to be associated with alcohol." Branford God Quad resident Jeff Glew, BR '98, said that the money his suite receives from the college can only go towards purchases such as cups and drink mix.

Regardless of who would be found liable, Yale's Masters feel a sense of obligation to oversee activities in their colleges. "Responsibility goes all the way up the line.... No one is completely on their own," Sledge said. "We're all responsible for each other.... I don't think filling out a form relieves the Master of any type of responsibility." Fry agreed that if there were some alcohol-related injury, the responsibility should not only be placed on students. "I consider myself to be liable," he said.

Evaluating the status quo

Given the realities of drinking and the liability issues that result from University policies, the ultimate question appears to be where Yale should go from here. Masters, students, and administrators agree that Yale should essentially stay put.

"It seems to me that the University is involved as much as it can be. It can't look over everyone's shoulder," Brownell said. "If you needed to have some University supervision at every social event--say it was a policeman--would students have fun?"

Students appreciate the trust the University places in their hands. "I think it's a great thing that the University gives students the freedom make these choices," Glew said.

Trachtenberg noted that "everybody says education is the only way to go. Restrictive measures just don't work.... We have kids who come to Yale seasoned drinkers. We state our policy, but start from giant steps backwards." She is planning to set up a task force to examine ways to better educate students about alcohol abuse. "Perhaps we have to be a little more cognizant of the fact that education may help more students," she said.

Yale's advantage over schools such as MIT is that much of its drinking activity is contained in an environment over which the University has some control. The threat of a crackdown creates the problem of driving students off campus to fraternities and student apartments where alcohol laws become much more difficult to monitor. "If [underage drinking] is going to occur, if it occurs in the college, we're better off," Brownell said. "Anything that would drive students off campus would be counterproductive." Smith agreed that a crackdown in the colleges "would diminish the importance of residential college life" and make "the issue much more unregulated."

For these reasons, and despite potential liability problems, no concerted crackdown efforts on drinking in the residential colleges are in the works. "This is a really decentralized institution," Trachtenberg said. "There are policies that Yale College makes in cooperation with the Council of Masters.... People administer policies as they interpret them. Nobody is going to crack down by fiat. Yale would never do that kind of thing unilaterally."

Related Herald articles from the archives

• Frats join nationwide alcohol crackdown

Sites related to this article
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• Alcoholics Anonymous
• Binge Drinking on Campus: Results of a National study - the findings of a survey of college student drinking recently completed by the Harvard School of Public Health

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