Editor’s note: This is the second article in a three-day series

Threeweeks ago Africana Studies professor Ted Kornweibel stood in front ofthe University Senate and pleaded with campus leaders to help stiffenuniversity policies on alcohol and hazing.

On Oct. 17, a custodian found his 18-year-old son collapsed andunconscious in Aztec Center, the victim of alleged hazing by a TauKappa Epsilon fraternity member. His blood alcohol content was .31 –almost four times the legal limit — and he nearly died.

On Sept. 30, a pledge for Beta Theta Pi was taken to AlvaradoHospital highly intoxicated and said he was forced to drink alcoholby fraternity members.

These two near-fatal incidents have prompted university officialsto scrutinize alcohol policies on campus.

An alcohol task force report, submitted to University PresidentStephen Weber this semester, outlines some policies universityemployees felt should be included into Greek guidelines to help curbalcohol use among its 1,600 members. These include stifferregulations for Greek parties and other social events.

“I can’t come out and say that I have zero tolerance for alcoholuse, but I do have zero tolerance for people furnishing alcohol forunderage drinkers,” said Jim Kitchen, vice president for StudentAffairs.

Kitchen, an Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity alumnus, said he is readyto implement the policies.

But Anthony Ciccati, Interfraternity Council president, said theuniversity is trying to step in on territory already covered by theGreek councils.

“We have these rules in place, unfortunately rules have beenbroken,” he said. “The fact that these rules are there is a sign thatwe realize this is a problem. What we are trying now is to educatemembers that these are the rules and these are how they can bebroken.”

About15 students at universities nationwide have died as a result ofalcohol poisoning relating to hazing since 1988.

California’s Education Code bans hazing, or any method ofinitiation or preinitiation into a student organization that causesbodily danger, physical harm or personal degradation.

But, according to stophazing.org, eight states do not have anystipulations against hazing: Arizona, Alaska, Hawaii, Montana,Michigan, New Mexico, South Dakota and Wyoming.

This week, The Daily Aztec’s non-scientific poll is asking itsreaders where they think alcohol is found the most on campus.Currently, about 55 percent of voters have targeted Greeks. About 35percent of voters said the problem rests campuswide.

Ciccati said the fingers must be pointed at the campus as a whole,not at the Greek system.

“What it all comes down to is peer pressure,” he said. “If youtake hazing off of it, take fraternity out of it, it’s peer pressure.That’s the name for it. And peer pressure happens all the time, fromstudents in the dorms to graduates.

“The university has been copping out and has been blaming thealcohol problem on the fraternities and has not been addressing thereal problem.”

Kitchen said he is not pointing the finger at any particular groupon campus, but has made it clear he has zero tolerance for hazing.

“I’m sorry if the young men and women in the Greek system cannotunderstand that,” he said. “Hazing is illegal, hazing causes lives tobe in danger, it creates very serious problems and if alcohol is usedin that hazing process, then I have a serious problem with it.

“I have a relationship with the Greeks and I’ve said this before:if I didn’t love you so much, I wouldn’t be so mad at you. And I getmad at you when you use alcohol as a part of hazing.”

The SDSU Foundation is currently building a Fraternity HousingComplex, one of the steps in the College Community RedevelopmentPlan. The $13 million project will house eight different fraternitiesin one complex, and will open by 2002. Grouping fraternities togetherhas received criticism that the proximity will lead to bigger partiesand bigger fights.

Each semester the Collegiate Community Alcohol Prevention Programrandomly selects 400 SDSU students and asks them about their alcoholuse. Director John Clapp said some fraternity members are part ofanonymous CCAPP surveys, but not enough to make any estimates aboutthe group’s behavior.

“Nationally, there’s a ton of good data (to) show members offraternities drink at heavy drinking levels almost double the rest ofthe college population,” Clapp said. “My guess is that it doesn’tlook too different on our campus.”

A survey by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in1998 found a measurable increase in binge drinking by collegestudents between 1993 and 1997.

The survey of more than 14,500 students at 130 colleges found thatfour out of five students who live in fraternity or sorority housesqualified as binge drinkers.

However, the number of students who said they don’t drink at allrose from 15.6 percent in 1993 to 19 percent in 1997.

Alcohol 101

Members of the Greek community said they provide sufficientprograms for alcohol awareness. All four Greek councils can be partof a program called Greeks Advocating the Mature Management ofAlcohol (GAMMA), a peer resource organization that informs membersabout drinking and alcohol abuse. Currently, the group is co-chairedby students from IFC and Panhellenic.

In addition, 75 percent of new members go through a programdesigned to educate new initiates about social issues such asdiversity, alcohol and drugs.

Ciccati said most fraternities are required by their nationalorganizations to provide their own alcohol programs. Two fraternities– Delta Sigma Phi and Delta Upsilon — already ban alcohol at socialevents.

He said he feels the amount of alcohol programs are sufficient,but Doug Case, coordinator for Fraternity and Sorority Life, said theprograms are just scratching the surface.

“They need to look at their values as a Greek body and then lookat their alcohol use and design programs to change their behavior,”Case said.

Ciccati said there is always room for improvement in programs, buthe feels that the university should be commending the Greeks foraddressing the problem instead of blaming them.

“Whether or not you like fraternities, we’re the ones getting thejob done, and there might be some small bumps along the way but we’regetting the job done,” he said.

“I’m just tired of the university pointing the finger at us andsaying we’re the black sheep of the school when we’re the onesactually implementing the programs that are educating our members.”

CSU steps in

Fraternity–related alcohol incidents on California StateUniversity campuses have prompted Chancellor Charles Reed to appointa committee of CSU presidents, including Weber, to review systemwidealcohol policies.

On Oct. 7, 18-year-old Adrian Heideman, a Phi Kappa Phi pledge andCSU Chico student, died after drinking a considerable amount ofalcohol at his fraternity house.

This incident, and the two alleged hazing incidents at SDSU, actedas catalysts for this committee, said CSU Spokesman Ken Swisher.

“We need to come up with solutions to prevent students formharming themselves through alcohol abuse and to teach students thatare going to drink, to drink responsibly,” he said.

The committee was formed in late October, and Weber, as well asChico State President Manuel Esteban, volunteered to be part of it,Swisher said.

It has until next Spring to bring recommendations back to Reed onways CSU can improve alcohol policies.

“It’s clear that there are too many students who are usingalcohol, so we need to figure out ways to prevent that abuse and thedangers that are involved with that abuse,” he said.

Swisher said this is the first systemwide attempt to addressalcohol problems on CSU’s 23 campuses. Clapp said he thinks thecommittee is overdue but it is a big step forward in addressingalcohol issues.

Swisher said alcohol is a societal p
roblem and goes beyond justcolleges. But the CSU system needs to find solutions to preventstudents from harming themselves through alcohol abuse.

“Any time students are injured because of alcohol use then thereis a problem,” he said.