Stanford bans hard alcohol on campus

Source: The Spirits Business

by Nicola Carruthers

23rd August, 2016

Stanford University has introduced a new policy to prohibit hard alcohol from undergraduate campus parties following the Brock Turner sexual assault case.

In an announcement on Monday, the elite northern Californian school ruled that “hard alcohol” and “shots” of liquor would be banned effective immediately from all on-campus parties open to undergraduates.

The move includes mixed drinks and shots of hard alcohol (alcohol of 20% abv or higher), but not beer and wine. In addition, high abv liquor containers of 750 millilitres or larger are also forbidden in all undergraduate housing, according to the announcement.

The policy was published just months after the school came under criticism after student Brock Turner was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman at a campus party.

The decision to ban hard liquor followed a campus-wide referendum in April, when 2,323 ‘yes’ voters (91.46%) opted to support the move. Approximately 1,720 people signed a petition against the proposal, according to The Stanford Daily.

It also follows a court statement from Turner where he sought to blame Stanford’s “party culture” of binge drinking and promiscuity for the assault.

Stanford said the policy change is designed to “reduce the availability and accessibility of hard alcohol” and aims to “meaningfully change the campus culture around alcohol”.

Greg Boardman, vice provost for student affairs, in a letter to all new and returning undergraduates, wrote: “When considering a policy, one can look at it through multiple lenses. I challenge you not to focus on the policy as something to be worked around.

“Instead, I ask you to bring your best selves to this endeavour, to consider the real concerns raised by your fellow students, and those articulated here, and to be a part of solving this problem. We must create a campus community that allows for alcohol to be a part of the social lives of some of our students, but not to define the social and communal lives of all of our students.”

Liquor would, however, be allowed at parties hosted by student organisations and residences where only postgraduate students live.

Last January, it was revealed that Ivy League college, Dartmouth, planned to ban hard liquor (alcohol containing 15% abv or more) from its campus in an effort to curb alcohol-related abuse and binge drinking.