The University of Wisconsin’s student government heard updates on campus alcohol service policies from the dean of students and voted to allocate $1,000 to internal funding for the betterment of student organization outreach at a meeting Wednesday.
Dean of Students Lori Berquam spoke to the Associated Students of Madison’s Student Council about campus alcohol policies.
The goal of the review is to standardize the current university alcohol policies to make sure they are more effectively enforced,ASM Press Office Director David Gardner said.
“The goal is…to eliminate extra bubbles of policy so that there will be a clearer way for people who desire an alcohol distribution permit to get that permit,” he said.
The university alcohol policy currently lacks standards regarding alcohol at events targeting undergraduates and people below 21 years old, according to a summary by the Event Alcohol Sales and Service Task Force.
The task force is a committee of representatives from faculty, staff, students and experts on alcohol policy.
The committee found the current policy also lacked penalties for violations and does not comply with state and federal law.
The revised policy needs to include considerations for event goals and include a clear statement of responsibility to prevent underage drinking, according to the committee.
They recommend that only events where more than two-thirds of the attendees are above the minimum legal drinking age can acquire a alcohol beverage service permit under the new policy.
Another issue of the current policy is having multiple documents and policy papers, which the task force found slows down the communication process.
The committee suggested that the new policy include regular review and a requirement of annual communication of the alcohol policy.
“The critical part is the communication to students, the faculty and the staff so that it’s clear what is expected and what’s changing as a result of the policy,” Gardner said.
The new policy should clearly define “university event” and expand local control of alcohol distribution, giving the authority and responsibility to all deans, vice provosts and divisional directors, according to the findings summary.
Student Council also passed three pieces of legislation, including an update of theASMbylaw to match the Supreme Court definition of viewpoint neutrality after the Southworth case that established VPN restrictions, according to an ASM statement.
Two-thirds of the Student Council voted to create a new line in the internal budget, allocating $1,000 ofASM’s general programming funding to helpASMoutreach to registered student organizations, according to the statement.
The money will be used to help registered student organizations better understand the funding application process and generally further the outreach.
“We created this new line partly because we’ve been hearing from groups about the need for more feedback on it, so we are hoping to use this fund to implement that outreach,” Gardner said.
Student Council also passed theASM Student Judiciary budget, according to the statement.
