Members of the University of Wisconsin’s student government met Monday to review drinking problems on campus and at the Mifflin Street Block Party, following sponsorship difficulties for the event.
Legislative Affairs member Morgan Rae presented information surrounding the Responsible Action bill, which would change responses campus officials could take to responding to reports of underage drinking.
One major concern with people in need of medical attention is excessive alcohol consumption. The goal is to encourage students to call for help more often when they, or their friends, are in need of medical attention, Rae said.
Rae added the main reason why students do not call for medical attention themselves or a friend is for their fear of receiving an underage drinking ticket.
The underage drinking rate in Wisconsin is very high in comparison to other states, she said.
When looking at the number of students admitted to detox in the last three years, Rae said the fall 2011-12 semester held the record for the second highest number of students admitted.
“There are also some loopholes in the bill that need to be worked out,” Rae said. “For example, one respondent to the survey said he called for help for his girlfriend and got in trouble for having alcohol in his room. Obviously these need to be fixed.”
When surveying students on whether or not they would call for help for a friend in need, Rae found 40 percent would regardless of if they got a ticket or not, 57 percent said it would depend on the situation and three percent said they would not call at all.
However, when students were asked if they would call if they knew that they or their friends would undoubtedly not receive a drinking ticket, Rae said the number of those who said ‘yes’ rose to 89 percent.
“There isn’t a lot of sympathy [from legislators] when it comes to underage drinking,” Rae said. “I’m just trying to get kids help when they need it or a friend needs it.”
The Mifflin Street Block Party has faced several challenges recently with issues of finding a sponsor and getting the city to agree to allow the annual celebration to continue.
Committee member Maria Giannopoulos said the organization that was originally in talks to sponsor Mifflin rescinded their application last Tuesday, meaning that there will be no formal sponsor for the block party this year.
“What is going to happen now is we are in the process to correspond with the city and to see if they will be an unofficial sponsor,” Giannopoulos said.
Giannopoulos said that even if Mifflin is cancelled, people will still show up there anyways, but it could be incredibly chaotic. While there is no current plan to cancel Mifflin this year, sonsors are needed to assist in blocking off streets and making sure the event is as safe as possible.
Mifflin has proceeded without a sponsor in the past. Legislative Affairs Chair Hannah Somers pointed out there was no sponsor in 2008, but the event still ran smoothly.
“We met with the mayor in February and originally he wanted to shut it down, but recently he has had a change of heart and wants the students to have more of a hand in planning it,” Giannopoulos said.
An earlier version of this story falsely identified Morgan Rae as Megan Wagner. There is also no relation between the Responsible Action bill and the Mifflin Street Block Party. We regret the error.
