“We don’t want to come down from above without looking at all sides of this issue,” said Jeff Clark, professor of
mathematics and co-chair of the alcohol task force. “The overall mission of the task force is to promote discussion in the community.”
The recommendation came from the 2006 Academic Summit where senior staff members and students drafted
proposals.
The task force has recently revised the Alcohol Position Statement to encourage
students to not drink until they are of age and to implement programs which “promote their academic success and personal
development.”
Other issues addressed by the task force include student safety, the impact of alcohol on academics, the fairness of the judicial and sanctioning process and how to best promote low risk choices.
A completed report of the task force’s work is expected in December 2007.
“The task force is asking difficult questions,” Clark said. “We’re not saying we have answers yet, but we want to make sure we look at every angle.”
The task force isn’t working to turn Elon into a dry campus, instead they want to make sure administration is giving a consistent message to students about personal responsibility, Clark said.
“Alcohol impacts all areas of life so we have to look at it from every spectrum,” said Laruen Martin, coordinator of Elon’s substance education program.
Sixty-one percent of Elon students drink five or more drinks in one sitting, compared to the 48.5 percent nationally, according to the spring 2005 CORE survey, which measures alcohol and substance use by university students.
Martin cautions against the appearance of these numbers.
“These averages include only universities that administer the CORE survey,” Martin said.
Elon also administers the survey in a classroom setting, which reaches a variety of students, instead of than making it an online survey like other universities, which Martin believes further skews the survey results.
The CORE survey is currently administered to students, and results will be available fall 2007 for further evaluation of the task force.
A low risk drinking committee has operated for two years, but the presidential charge has put the committee on a higher profile, Clark said.