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"For the past several years, Stanford has required students to adhere to a Student Party Policy, which includes a highly detailed “Harm Reduction Plan” mandatin
by bennysonething 3y ago
"For the past several years, Stanford has required students to adhere to a Student Party Policy, which includes a highly detailed “Harm Reduction Plan” mandating multiple sober monitors and designated alcohol service areas, and prohibiting the serving of any hard liquor.
Party hosts must also provide “EANABs,” or Equally Attractive Non-Alcoholic Beverages, to “contribute to an inclusive and inviting experience” for all partygoers. Hosts are also required to take an online “Party Planning Course” before submitting their applications. "
Is this normal!?! I feel sorry for this generation. Attempts to make their world risk free has turned it into "fuck up once and we'll destroy you".
- Lammy 3y ago> prohibiting the serving of any hard liquor > Party hosts must also provide “EANABs,” or Equally Attractive Non-Alcoholic Beverages Good time to invest in Liquid Death (water in a tallboy can) if their presence at parties is mandated.
- shagie 3y agoAs an aside, the marketplace article on them from a few weeks ago: https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/25/liquid-death-is-an-entertainment-machine-with-a-water-brand-attached/ https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/25/liquid-death-is-an-en...
- rhaway84773 3y agoHow is requiring additional options, which are legally the only options about 75% of students can legally consume, any sort of suppression? Especially when technically only about 25% of students in a 4 year college in the US can even legally drink.
- boc 3y agoThe concept of registering on-campus parties is nothing new at private universities, but these requirements are pretty insane.
- JumpCrisscross 3y agoThe policy looks like it's only for parties held by student organizations [1], not all parties held by its students, which makes the whole thing more silly than dystopian. [1] https://vaden.stanford.edu/student-party-policy-guidelines https://vaden.stanford.edu/student-party-policy-guidelines
- yamtaddle 3y agoI'm surprised they allow alcohol at student organization events, period. My boring public university no-one's heard of sure didn't, years back.
- giraffe_lady 3y agoLook we are trying to have a moral panic about political correctness here get in the spirit please.
- sideshowb 3y agoSpirit? That's a rule violation sorry
- ben_w 3y agoI was raised Catholic[0], so I could argue that wine is a Holy Spirit. [0] technically
- yamtaddle 3y agoThe blood of Christ, surely. I'm sure you've just committed some named, historical heresy. There's one for everything, it seems.
- ben_w 3y agoThe original cover of The Hobbit has runes running along the outside; the runes read "The Hobbit or There and Back Again, being the record of a journey by Bilbo Baggins of Hobbiton compiled from his memoirs by JRR Tolkein and published by G?rge Allen and Unwin Ltd"[0]. I can read that because of my mum's books on doing fortune telling with Viking rune stones, which she kept near her statue of a Hindu god and some magic crystals. At this point, calling one of the sacraments by a silly name is the least of my problems if it turns out to all be real. [0] https://todayinbritishhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/The-hobbit-first-edition-dust-jacket-book-cover.jpg https://todayinbritishhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01...
- grammers 3y agoThis sounds so crazy. Can't they just leave the premises to have a good party?
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> Can't they just leave the premises to have a good party? Yes. As others mention, many universities prohibit alcohol at official student organization events.
- stale2002 3y agoNot really, no. The way that university policy often works, is that for certain groups, especially "Greek Life" related groups, if you run an event that is included any members of that group, then the group could be held liable. That leads to absurd situations where if a bunch of friends, host a party, in a privately owned residence, because the friends happen to be in the same fraternity, if anything bad happens, the fraternity could get in trouble. And this is regardless of if the event is hosted off campus, in a privately owned place.
- scotty79 3y agoAs a non-drinker all of those seem to me pretty reasonable requests for any kind of gathering. A bit organized perhaps, but not insane as some commenters suggest.
- nickff 3y agoThey're not requests, they're requirements.
- scotty79 3y agoSorry, I'm not a native speaker. I think I used the word request improperly. I am aware that those conditions must be met. But then again I am not surprised that those were stated as requirements rather than requests. From what I understand a request is just a polite suggestion easily, routinely ignored if it requires additional work or foresight and deviates from pre-estabilished culture.
- bart_spoon 3y agoYour original comment was fine, the person responding to you was being pedantic.
- tptacek 3y agoSo don't host official fraternity parties if you're not OK with those requirements. What's complicated about this? Fraternities are "official" organizations; official organizations have to deal with official policies. Just have unofficial parties.
- ihateyouall123 3y ago[flagged]
- stale2002 3y ago> So don't host official fraternity parties If only it were allows to host a party, with your friends who happen to be in the same fraternity, and it were allowed to do this unofficially, without having to follow university rules. Unfortunately, this is often not allowed. As in literally, if you have a party, at a private residence, because the people going to it happen to be in the same fraternity, this is disallowed. Unofficial parties are quite literally often not allowed, and are seen by universities as a way of getting around their draconian rules, and you could actually get in trouble for hosting them.
- nonethewiser 3y agoThe real problem is that this is presumably enforceable. How is that possible?
- henrikschroder 3y agoThe cost of tuition being ridiculously high means that students want to avoid getting expelled at any cost, because the financial hit is pretty damn big, you'd lose half a year to a year of tuition. If tuition was less expensive, or free, students would be freer to not give a fuck about these ridiculous policies.
- aidenn0 3y agoThis looks to apply to on-campus parties only? If so, it's more liberal, if also more complicated, than the university I went to where the policy for alcohol on-campus was "No." Granted you could find dozens of parties within a mile of campus there; I don't know the geography of Stanford.
- gnicholas 3y agoThe vast majority of undergrads live on campus. Off-campus housing is quite expensive (it's in Palo Alto), since you're competing with Googlers and the like for real estate.
- woodruffw 3y agoThis is not a problem or experience unique to Stanford: NYC has 600,000 university students living in it, and they manage to tear it up just fine without relying on the campus to host their parties.
- disgruntledphd2 3y agoHave you been to Palo Alto? It's rather different from New York. Even SF is more boring and significantly smaller than NY.
- woodruffw 3y agoBoring and smaller aren't the concern: I went to a large state school in an extremely boring suburb of DC. We still managed to cram people into overpriced off-campus housing and to drink ourselves stupid.
- gnicholas 3y agoSure, there are just very few Stanford undergrads who live off-campus. And most Stanford undergrads would not choose to live off-campus in order to be able to party more.
- ben_w 3y agoThe welcome event for freshers at Aberystwyth uni had the speaker (Chancellor? Don't remember) practically encouraging people to relax and drink as well as studying. One of my acquaintances at university did an exchange year with an American university, was forced to attend an alcoholism awareness group therapy program after being caught at a party with one beer, at which (I paraphrase but by his own description) almost caused a riot by plainly describing his experiences with alcohol when the moderators of that program asked him to share. Myself however, I was exactly the "lock yourself away in your bedroom and study (without drinking)" personality that one of the authority figures told all of us not to be.
- version_five 3y agoLol, from how I understand you post I feel like it could be a comedy skit about a Welsh guy going to the coastal US and acting normally, like telling drinking stories, while the sheltered people around him are horrified.
- ben_w 3y ago*Welsh student* "Felly beth bynnag, ar ôl i ni i gyd orffen y pumed peint, David, chwedl llwyr ei fod, penderfynodd roi un o'r defaid yr oeddem wedi'i ddwyn i sedd gefn car y deon. Beth bynnag, arweiniodd un peth at un arall, a nawr ni chaniateir o fewn hanner milltir i'r Amwythig." *American stares back in monolingual, desperately grasping with one hand for some holy water as they believe they have witnessed Speaking In Tongues*
- red-iron-pine 3y ago"so I was at this party and this British dude was so drunk he starts speaking, no shit, in Elvish. Like full-on Tolken, man!"
- fmajid 3y agoYou rebel you
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- geodel 3y ago> Hosts are also required to take an online “Party Planning Course” Well, the way they are going, it seems Stanford admins are required to take "Party Pooper Course"
- mwcremer 3y agoLikely a result of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_v._Turner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_v._Turner
- tqi 3y ago> Attempts to make their world risk free has turned it into "fuck up once and we'll destroy you". TBH I think it is a much bigger problem that low-stakes hyper-local issues have been elevated into proxy battles for national politics. Truly, the fact that anyone who is not either attending or administering this university cares about their party policy at all (let alone enough to write about it professionally) is completely absurd.
- testfoobar 3y agoStanford is an elite institution that others watch carefully. Administrators go to conferences & workshops to discuss their practices. They get promoted into positions at other universities. Stanford is a leading indicator of campus life elsewhere.
- tqi 3y agoDo you attend college parties, or administer a university?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- fortuna86 3y ago> Stanford is a leading indicator of campus life elsewhere. It very much is not. Last party I went to at Stanford had corporate sponsorship.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ZephyrBlu 3y agoDo house parties not exist at Stanford?
- randycupertino 3y ago
- jiveturkey 3y ago> Attempts to make their world risk free It's nothing to do with risk free for the students. Nothing. It's to reduce liability for the university. That is the world we live in.
- fallingknife 3y agoThey didn't do this in college 20 years ago, and liability laws have not changed since then.
- jiveturkey 3y agoWell, I didn't say anything about laws. As alcohol-related incidents increase in frequency and severity, and as payouts become bigger, the cost to insure (including self-insure) goes up. This kind of policy existed at my alma mater 30 years ago. Even the alt beverage bit. Can't remember if we just served water or did we actually have punch of some kind. We even had (student) inspectors that went around to registered parties to verify that the rules were followed. And yes, citations were written and disciplinary hearings were held, and party privileges revoked for the semester. This was at a big 10 state school.
- fallingknife 3y agoAlcohol incidents are increasing in frequency? Payouts are bigger? You got a source for that? And student inspectors? I'm sure they enforced rules rather than just partying with everyone else.
- InitialLastName 3y agoAll of these rules sound onerous, but they boil down to the same rules as when I was in college ~15 years ago in a very different place (and only applied to public and openly promoted parties). They're a very low-lift means to reducing hospital trips, at the very least.
- glonq 3y ago[flagged]
- ihateyouall123 3y agoGot to love people like you who makes the world boring for some sense of safety that doesn't simply exist.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- bennysonething 3y agoEveryone I grew up with was underage drinking none of these things you've listed happened to anyone I know. Regulating parties might be one way to lessen the chances. But I'm not sure that price is worth it.
- hot_gril 3y agoThese are on-campus parties. Underage college drinking is still a big thing. Title is clickbait. But gen Z (which I'm part of) has lost out on a lot of other fun things and turned antisocial on average for other reasons, some of them having to do with safety obsession.
- actionfromafar 3y agoNo sexual assaults? I think the people you know are very lucky, or you don't know the people you know as well as you think you do.
- paulcole 3y agoIn the US, something like 1 in 6 women have been a victim of sexual assault and only about 1 in 5 of those report the assault. It’s very likely that if you were a regular attendee of parties among teenagers where people were drinking heavily then someone was sexually assaulted. You can think nothing bad happened to anyone, but it’s just unlikely. And what “price” are you talking about exactly?
- rocket_surgeron 3y ago>Is this normal!?! I feel sorry for this generation. Attempts to make their world risk free has turned it into "fuck up once and we'll destroy you". If the students would simply stop raping people and dying of fentanyl overdoses which lead to their parents suing the school I'm sure Stanford would not have as many rules for what occurs on campus. Or we can choose as a society to free Stanford of civil liability for the actions of people who aren't Stanford employees on its campus. It is normal, typical, common, and expected for universities in the United States to completely prohibit alcohol consumption on campus. These rules seem like an attempt to regulate on-campus activities to a degree much lower than in public institutions.
- ModernMech 3y ago> It is normal, typical, common, and expected for universities in the United States to completely prohibit alcohol consumption on campus. My question is: why does this article try so hard to make it seem like it’s not typical?
- Panzer04 3y agoBecause no one reads "normal" news?
- alephnerd 3y agoIt's published by Bari Weiss, an ex-NYT reporter who leans Center-Right/Libertarian. Not disagreeing with the content, but at the end of the day it's a blog like any other that has a slant like Vox or The Intercept or The Atlantic.
- bart_spoon 3y agoBecause outrage has proven to be a viable business model
- alephnerd 3y agoWhy is this guy getting downvoted. I went to college in the mid-to-late 2010s and was in Greek life. We'd be inspected by our university all the time when we'd throw parties at our Frat's house and if photos of alcohol and stuff were seen by admin we'd def face disciplinary action. You can agree or disagree with that all you want but at least that's how a lot of universities are handling alcohol and parties on campus. Blame overlitigious parents if you have to, it makes sense to be honest as no university wants to be on the hook liability wise. Look at what happened to Stanford after Brock Turner (which is also around the time Stanford became so overbearing about campus culture)
- huevosabio 3y agoA lot of people the stuff I see coming out of Stanford admin is absolutely ridiculous. But I actually liked the EANABs policy when I was there. Granted, they mostly remained intact, but they provide something to hidrate in a party and something for those who don't drink (which is not that rare!).
- etrautmann 3y agoyeah I agree, I've tried to follow that EANAB's example when throwing parties elsewhere too. I most certainly do not submit any party plan to anyone in advance
- fencepost 3y agoHaving decent NABs on hand for parties has always been a polite and common-sense thing to do. "Equally Attractive" seems like a bit of a judgement call.
- etrautmann 3y agohaha yeah I don't care about the acronym, but I find the term somewhat ridiculous yet fun to say, which makes people think about it and not ignore it (maybe).
- Manuel_D 3y agoThe EANABs is fine - I even do this at my parties as adults, it's good to have good non-alcoholic drinks for non-drinkers and for pacing. That said, you're spot on about the ridiculous rules. One of the dumbest alcohol policies was to ban liquor containers over 750ml [1]. But you could still have any number of liquor bottles, as long as they were individually less than 750ml. The rationale is that since two 750ml bottles costs marginally more than a 1.5L handle of alcohol, that will reduce binge drinking. I kid you not. 1. https://bulletin.stanford.edu/pages/0Wpl6joexOePOiCBZWCB https://bulletin.stanford.edu/pages/0Wpl6joexOePOiCBZWCB
- nocoiner 3y ago
- havblue 3y agoI think this was more or less normal over twenty years ago when everyone started to crack down on underage drinking. Get caught serving minors or hazing and the university might take your house away. From the university's standpoint they of course want to pave the way for donations and protect their reputation. If they boot an occasional animal house fraternity it just lets them open a door to a more reputable organization that is more discreet about breaking campus rules.
- hot_gril 3y agoThis actually seems like a permissive rule compared to the usual no alcohol, period. But private schools in general have weird rules for unrelated things, mostly to protect their own reputation, so yeah it is "screw up and we'll destroy you" for those. The funniest I can think of was how my private elementary school banned all students from personally having a MySpace account, at the threat of expulsion.
- trinsic2 3y agoSad state of affairs, man.
- hanoz 3y agoAs a Briton, it's incomprehensible to me that American adults allow themselves to be told, like children, that they can't drink alcohol until they are an older adult! It's completely and utterly baffling. How do you guys put up with it?
- tomkarho 3y ago> "fuck up once and we'll destroy you" Welcome to the life in the internet era. every mistake, every errant post, every fuck up catalogued, stamped and preserved in perpetuity. Ready to be used in a moment's notice against you should you stray from the established narrative or the instructions of "The Party"
- mcv 3y agoAm I now supposed to be upset about universities tackling the problem of excessive drinking by students? Because when it comes to alcohol, fucking up once can also destroy you. I still remember how a number of years ago, a student at the university of Groningen drank himself to death under peer pressure. The article refers to a student being hospitalised due to alcohol. The university working to reduce the dangers of alcohol sounds like a very good thing to me. Of course the rest of the article, about harsh punishments by the university that even drove one student to suicide, is also serious. It looks like Stanford needs to be a bit more concerned with their students' mental health and not just their alcohol intake. The relationship between the university and its students comes across as far too antagonistic, and that's not good.
- ChuckNorris89 3y ago>drank himself to death under peer pressure Learning to resist tribal peer pressure without becoming an outcast is by far the most valuable life lesson I've ever learned.
- musicale 3y agoParty and alcohol restrictions have been normal for years for universities that are paranoid about liability - which seems to be most of them in the US. A disconnect is that alcohol is illegal for under-21s, which includes many/most college students. Then again this is also the school that fired its mascot (a student) for carrying a sign that said "Stanford Hates Fun" - thereby demonstrating the sign's accuracy. But the greater issue is hostile and punitive policies which exacerbate student stress and depression. The pandemic was handled particularly poorly, and university policies compounded with isolation seem to have greatly harmed student mental health. A possibly positive change is that universities seem more willing to acknowledge student suicides, and to allow students (and faculty and staff) time to grieve. Perhaps they are worried about potential liability.