Released by a committee of Brown University officials and students, the report suggests ways to curb binge drinking before students head out to parties.

01:00 AM EST on Friday, March 10, 2006

BY TOM MOONEY
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Four months after a weekend of drunken revelry landed about 30 Brown University students in area hospitals and the Ivy League school in the crosshairs of a national television commentator, the college yesterday began considering new recommendations to curb student alcohol abuse.

A report released by an ad hoc committee of officials and students suggests ways to curtail the dangerous trend of students binge drinking in their dorms -- known as "pre-gaming" -- and then going off drunk to attend social events.

The committee's report calls for not only tighter monitoring of dorm behavior on weekends but suggests ways -- including the hiring of private security guards -- to keep drunken students out of events like November's "Sex Power God" party.

Several hundred students attended the popular bash at Sayles Hall, hosted for 20 years by a student group called Queer Alliance.

Although no alcohol was served, the event ended up attracting the largest number of inebriated students needing medical attention in Brown's history.

Portions of the event -- which featured partially clad male and female revelers -- were surreptitiously videotaped and aired on Fox's The O'Reilly Factor, becoming fodder for Bill O'Reilly's outrage du jour.

The Sex Power God party came just one night after several fistfights broke out on the campus green and gunshots were fired nearby following a fraternity party.

The committee's report stops short of taking the job of planning events away from students. Nor does it suggest banning alcohol from all campus events, such as fraternity parties, as other colleges, including the University of Rhode Island, have done.

Rather, the report states, "The committee endorses changing campus culture so that it becomes an expectation of students that they will be denied entry to events if they are intoxicated or under the influence of any controlled substances."

Some of the committee's specific recommendations include:

Prohibiting students from reentering parties once they have left.

Hiring private security guards where parties are expected to exceed 300 guests to help the students working the doors who must challenge their peers about admission procedures.

Require an additional event manager at all social functions.

Make students pay for each drink.

Train event managers to better evaluate intoxication to keep drunken students from entering parties.

Train residential peer leaders to be better counselors "to intervene in disruptive behavior, including the misuse of alcohol, and to set community standards in the residence halls."

Offer incentives, such as free food, at late-night parties so students come earlier, limiting the time they spend pre-gaming.

Make available metal detectors and wands for campus groups. The committee said that while "weapons and related issues are not a concern at most Brown events, the option should exist . . ."

The committee's report will be passed along for further review to David Greene, vice president for campus life and student services.

tmooney@projo.com / (401) 277-7359