Honor Council Minutes
7 November 1999

“Was it a big fight?  Or was it a HaverFight?”  Maura

Present: Lev Miskoen, Debbie Perlman, Maura Purcell (Chair), Mike Ranen, Lucy Lyon, Karen Muñoz, Noel Pacheco, Ben Smith, Scott Burau (Secretary), Caitlin Costello, Jenn Louie, Terry McMahon, Mike Freedman, Celeste Moore, Ethan Sorrelgreen

Absent:  Nomi Barst

I.      Moment of Silence

II.     General Discussion
         Maura & Scott attended the Haverford-sponsored Liberal Arts Leadership Conference over the weekend, of which several schools attended – from Sewanee in Tennessee to our friends at Pomona in California.  It was fascinating to see how various student governments and honor codes operate in different settings – ask us about it.
         During today’s meeting, alcohol was discussed at length.  This was pretty much what we discussed for two hours today, so I’m going to detail it.  The opinions of your Honor Council members are expressed in the following section:
        We began by sharing our thoughts on the Alcohol Town Meeting held on Wednesday night.  Maura mentioned that although alcohol poisonings were focused on heavily, this is the sort of discussion from which changes arises.  She did, however, question the validity of the argument for peer pressure.  Mike F. said that he believes that if someone says ‘no’ (in a team sports setting, por ejemplo), then the “pressure” is immediately dropped.  Debbie said that while there were a lot of people there, it is important that something comes out of this and that we don’t just see the talk-a-lot-do-nothing scene.  Mike R. said that while he didn’t expect any major implementation or policy to come out of this, he thinks it is good for discussion and to make people think.  Jenn mentioned the idea of classes revolving around the alcohol policy and party host guidelines.  From our leadership conference this weekend, we learned that Wesleyan has a policy stating that anyone who wants to throw a party must go through a three-hour training class.
        Mike R. brought up the issue of ‘front-loading’ and pre-partying.  Ben said that there is almost always heavy pre-partying involved when someone endures an ‘incident’.  Considering the number of alcohol poisonings and incidents in general, Mike F. said that the situation will almost certainly have to become much worse before it gets better.  He said he was surprised that Rhoads was not the possible ‘drastic situation’ in question.  Caitlin thinks that the main keys to change are the freshmen class and the Customs program.  Debbie said that while these are important, it is vital to have more than just these groups (Customs, peer awareness, etc.) involved.
        In light of the discussion, Council members raised some possible solutions, things to be pondered if you will.  A first step would be for the following groups to meet and look at possible solutions/changes for the alcohol scene:  Honor Council, Student Council, JSAAPP, SHAC, and the on-campus alcohol counselor.  Perhaps a task force could be created and implemented for parties on campus.  Another of the ideas revolves around the proposed ‘dry weekend’, in which students would be asked to sign a ‘pledge’ one weekend per semester.  For each pledge signed (each student that chooses not to drink!), perhaps local businesses or simply the administration would be willing to give a certain amount of money.  This raised money would then be used for things like a band during HaverFest – for non-alcoholic events anyway.  Mike R. raised the question of having something like a SpeakOut on alcohol issues – having a similar setup of anonymous submissions and first-hand experiences.

III.     Confidential Portion

IV.     Moment of Silence

Does it get any better than bullets for no reason?

These minutes do not necessarily reflect the views of Haverford College but are rather my interpretations of what was said during the meeting.

Today was our very own Lucy Lyon’s birthday, so don’t forget to wish her a belated special day.

[Scott includes a cryptic phrase in what looks like Greek characters that don't show up well on my computer - Terry]