Columbia residents expressed concerns over new Interfraternity Council ban on hard alcohol

The University of Missouri Interfraternity Council banned hard alcohol on fraternity property in a recent effort to make MU fraternity houses safer for college students. The policy is an attempt at decreasing the cases of sexual assault on the MU campus.

Residents of Columbia believed that the policy is a good idea, but won’t have a big enough impact on the campus.

Eastin Meyer, MU graduate and mother of two, said that the new policy is a good idea, but she wouldn’t have liked the policy when she was a student at MU. As a Columbia resident, she has not noticed an increase in reckless behavior of college students since she attended MU.

MU faculty had a differing view of the safety of the campus.

“This is supposed to be a dry campus,” Amy Adams, a faculty member in the MU College of Education, said. Adams has seen an increase in the amount of reckless behavior on the campus in the past years. Adams hoped that the Chancellor’s new policy will make for a safer campus for students.

Brooke Hartman, also a faculty member in the MU College of Education, thought that this policy was a hopeless attempt at decreasing cases of sexual assault on campus.

“The kids won’t do it,” Hartman said, “There’s ways around everything.” Hartman said she felt that, though these policies are important in controlling reckless behavior on campus, there is little that the administration can do to implement this policy effectively.

The debate over this issue extends outside of Columbia. St. Louis residents Lois and Dennis DuMay, parents of an MU graduate, felt that this policy would not be effective.

“What’s the difference between had alcohol versus beer or wine?” Lois DuMay said. DuMay expressed that she would be upset about the policy if she were an MU student.

Students from the MU Panhellenic Association wrote to Chancellor Loftin on April 29 regarding Chancellor’s Summit on Sexual Assault & Student Safety in Fraternity Houses. In it, they referenced their feelings on the alcohol policy that was recently adopted on campus.

“While alcohol and sexual assaults are statistically correlated, we want to highlight that alcohol does not cause sexual assault,” the letter stated. The letter questioned the policy’s effectiveness at stopping sexual assault on campus.

“Currently, however, the environment within fraternities does contain hard alcohol and underage drinking,” the letter stated, “We believe this atmosphere is not good for anyone’s health or well- being.”

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