<p>I am picking up on the fact that Rice administration has some issues regarding the on-campus alcohol policy:</p>
<p>A letter was recently sent out by Dean Hutchinson:</p>
<p>"Therefore, effective immediately and until further notice, I am placing the colleges on alcohol policy probation. As part of this probation, the colleges have committed to present specific plans for immediate action to protect the safety and welfare of every member of this community, plans which must include effective and immediate curtailment of the alcohol abuse."</p>
<p>He goes on to call for a college-wide meeting on March 7th (yesterday) to address this.</p>
<p>Can any current students or parents speak to this? Did a particular incident precipitate this change? What was Rice's alcohol policy prior to this probation? Has a decision been made for a future policy?</p>
<p>Multiple alcohol related hospitalizations. I believe a whole group of extremely inebriated students were found alone and passed out.</p>
<p>The alcohol policy before this was very simple, do not make a scene and you will not get caught. RUPD does NOT search rooms, they do not actively go out of the way to find people. Their policy is to ensure the safety of the students, not patrol them. You can call EMS without fear of retribution as well. I have seen RUPD send intoxicated students back to their rooms with a friend (who was going to take care of them). </p>
<p>As the quote states “Give him an inch & he’ll take a mile”, this policy was widely abused. Those who got caught were caught because they ran around with a neon sign stating “I am underage and drunk”. Police officers were punched a couple of times by drunk students. I know of 4 cases in the last few years. The number of people running from the cops was rising as well.</p>
<p>The future policy will be more strict, I hope. It is really disappointing that this has happened. Those who are too immature to drink and act like adults do not have a place in this community where they can ruin it for everyone else. </p>
<p>The alcohol policy was very similar to the honor code. Based on mutual trust, understanding and respect. If a critical mass demonstrates that they are not capable of being trusted to be mature and trustworthy, then there is no choice but to change it. RUPD would trust us to be responsible and we (atleast I) always trusted them to not break up a party that was private and not causing any problems. In the end, they are a state recognized police force - if you give them probable cause, sooner or later something will have to be done.</p>
<p>I guess this ended up being a rant. I hope it answers some of your questions. I am really mad that Rice students managed to screw up something that you have to actively try to screw up.</p>
<p>Interesting. Antarius, can you say whether the admitted student population has changed over the years, or is the administration’s actions more a sign of the times (fear of lawsuits, etc.)?</p>
<p>FWIW, back in my day Rice was for the more cerebral, serious student who mostly tended to shun places like UT due to its greek/party reputation.</p>
<p>That is an interesting point, and I am not sure which is true. One thing that I have noticed is that Rice is the place that a group of students finally get “freedom”. This is the group that has minimal experience with the drinking/party culture. When they get to Rice, they end up like chained pitbulls who have been set free. As a result, the whole alcohol and party thing is so new that some people do not realize that 10 shots in a row is probably not a good way to start off.</p>
<p>What I have heard is that the lack of upperclassmen to underclassmen at the new colleges is a contributing factor. I cannot attest to the validity of this claim. I do know that people running from cops/assault on a peace officer/furniture being thrown off balconies is campus wide.</p>
<p>I think we are spoiled at rice in many ways. The college system finances is basically like getting pocket money from your parents. Thousands are frittered away on purchases that are promptly lost and purchased again the next year (and it goes on). All the essentials are taken care of. From what it seems, back in the day, the jacks were better. Now every college tries the Dixie cup with water/soda or repeats jacks such as the wall between Hanszen/Wiess every single year.</p>
<p>I think this is a good opportunity to show the administration that we like the university as it is and we are capable of being adults and do not need Dr. Hutchinson to babysit us. Dean Hutchinson is a great person, an incredible teacher and has been a fantastic Master for 7 years at Wiess and 5 years at Brown. The fact that he has suspended the alcohol policy, to me, shows that his hand was forced.</p>
<p>I believe the “honor code” on every college and prep school campus has deteriorated along with the end product of character and integrity. I do wish admissions departments of colleges with respected honor codes would weigh these attributes a little more than the stats. Since stats are the ultimate goal many students choose any means to achieve them. Most prep schools teachers and administration do not document and at most college campuses little is done unless a student is caught “red handed”. As with most things, it is a cycle that was not created from one source.</p>
<p>Have a sophomore son at Rice, so I’ve been reading the online articles from the Rice Thresher about the alcohol policy with interest. According to him, the final straw for the probation, which is for hard alcohol only, stems from a small (about 4) group of international freshmen from one of the new colleges drinking one of the new high % liquors and passing out. They were found and transported to the hospital where one was admitted. My son feels that the increase in EMS calls this year is a result of too many freshman and not enough upperclassman, especially in the new colleges. Also, add in the lack of social experience many of the Rice freshmen have. First time away from mom and dad and such. Hopefully the college officers will reach out to their fellow students and help get things back on track before someone is really hurt.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s clear whether the increase in alcohol-related incidents is actually due to a change in the campus culture or more a byproduct of the increase in the student-body size. Either way, it’s always good to reassess the effectiveness of Rice’s approach to the alcohol policy and reaffirm the importance of responsible alcohol consumption.</p>
<p>Freshman daughter, non-drinker, new dorm. She usually ends up being the designated friend helper when others have over indulged. Happy to say there is no pressure to drink if you do not want to.
To answer your question - I don’t think the problem is anywhere near as bad as what goes on at other schools. I do think it is more visible because rice is a smaller closed campus. When the dorms and frats/sororities are spread out the effect is diluted and less obvious.
Our family lives in a college town where the drinking on campus and in local “pubs” is epic. However the dorms and independent apartments make it far less obvious and also assuage and dilute the guilt and responsibility of the administration. It is a big 10 school but I would not want my child at that school.
I would say that the culture of drinking in high schools has gotten worse and that is sure to follow to college. Yes, maybe some students who are suddenly “free” over indulge to excess but it is the upperclassmen that seem to show them the ropes and have the “private” parties where the hard stuff was available, so I am not so sure upper classmen would have prevented this.
Based on personal experience and the aforementioned town we live in I think Rice still has a lower “tolerance” for excess. Compare an A from a community college and one from Rice and you will understand. Rice has a higher standard for it’s baseline.</p>
<p>One of my sons attends a school that had a reputation for a lot of drinking and some drugging. After many hospitalizations, a handful of well-publicized alcohol and/or drug-related deaths, and other bad press, the school started developing a fairly aggressive master plan to change their party culture, while at the same time making a huge effort to publicize their no-blame/no-retribution policy for kids who do “the right thing” and get help for their friends in need (by calling the police, taking them to the hospital, whatever).</p>
<p>Point is, as the university’s policies were implemented, the drinking and drugging problems appeared even more pronounced and became MORE visible – because more kids were calling in their friends to get help, which resulted in more hospitalized kids, AND because the university was not trying to keep the problem under wraps, but rather seeking campus-wide support and support from students’ parents. People in charge believed (as do I) that the problems only APPEARED more pronounced for the short-term, not that they actually WERE more rampant. The new policies increased their visibility for some time before the root of the problems experienced true change.</p>
<p>Anyway, your conversation here reminded me of that.</p>
<p>In terms of Rice, specifically … I do know a handful of different people, at different times, who sent their kids down to Owl Days (or whatever the orientation type program was for seniors) and were upset and appalled because the Rice kids who showed their kids around had one thing on their minds: partying and introducing the visiting students to drinking. Not really cool. Especially since the kids I knew did not WANT to drink. Gave me the impression that Rice has a bit of a problem on its hands. However, all of my kids have applied and been accepted – so I’m not TOO worried about it, obviously. (None have attended so far – but only because of finances.)</p>
<p>Maybe it is time that Rice stops protecting the ones who cause this problem. If you are underage or even of age and are drunk and making a fool of yourself/causing damage in public and are caught by RUPD, then you face real penalties. No more “U-Court” sanctions. Give everyone a couple of chances and warn them of potential suspension/expulsion.</p>
<p>Our honor council policy is this way. If you are caught cheating, you can get up to a 3 semester suspension. While this does not stop everyone from cheating, it provides a decent deterrent. </p>
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<p>Very true. I still expect a little more from freshmen. Just because there is liquor, doesn’t mean you have to drink yourself silly.</p>
<p>Finally, the vast majority of Rice students are just fine. They party with or without alcohol as they choose without making national news. As with the whole financial BANNER change, where certain colleges/organizations were moving money to non-Rice accounts and using the tax ID (which is tax fraud, I believe), Rice ended up implementing a much more stringent and particular system. The few cannot spoil this for everyone.</p>
<p>For my D, Rice is absolutely her first choice, but this is making her nervous. One of the many reasons she chose Rice is because of the reputation of NOT being a party school. She doesn’t (yet) want any part of that scene. I really hope they get this under control.</p>
<p>She was on campus for an audition and picked up the copy of the Thresher, with the article saying that this drinking increase being part of a challenge between the RCs to see which college could send the most kids to the hospital. Please tell me this isn’t true!</p>
<p>No. We have a seminar during orientation by Student Judicial Programs where they tell us that drinking underage is illegal, however we do not seek out trouble unless forced to. </p>
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<p>I am not sure. I would wait to see what Dean Hutchinson decides to do. </p>
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<p>Are you sure that wasn’t the back page? (The thresher backpage is a satire/comedy/attempted humor section that is for entertainment only) I can almost guarantee that this is not true. </p>
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<p>I wouldn’t worry too much about this. Your D will find a group of friends that she likes and can hang out with. In addition, she can always go to parties and hang out with the partiers without making a spectacle of herself.</p>
<p>The one positive to this is, if there is someone drawing attention to themselves, RUPD will not focus on you. ;)</p>
<p>Haha. Don’t worry, There is a large crowd at Rice (the vast majority) who isn’t responsible for this. Your D will find a group she gets along with very well who share similar feelings about partying/drinking. </p>
<p>Dean Hutchinson will probably have it all straightened out soon anyways. There will be new regulations in place as well as much more education during orientation to properly equip the upcoming freshmen class.</p>
<p>I have been wondering if the administration touting that they give students ‘independence and autonomy’ has fanned this flame. And not only at Rice. College is the big step to independence – no one keeps track of your hours – I remember that thrill. However, if you say “your behavior is your decision”, isn’t that like turning a blind eye? I think that Rice taking this position that excess won’t be tolerated will create a better culture, as in a work situation. Rice is fantastic, with great students, but they should have seen this train coming.</p>