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Tough on booze abuse

Any BU student who has stumbled back to campus after a night of heavy drinking knows the party ends when they reach their residence hall.

"If a student is seen intoxicated in a residence hall, 100 percent of the time the security staff will call the police, who will respond with EMTs," says Daryl DeLuca, director of BU's Office of Judicial Affairs. "The EMTs then decide if the student is all right, and 9 times out of 10 they transport the student to a hospital. They don't run the risk of losing anybody."

The inflexible protocol for dealing with student drunkenness is one aspect of BU's strict alcohol policy, which emphasizes "the fact that if you're not 21, you're not welcome to drink, period," says DeLuca.

To drive home the point, students transported to a hospital because of intoxication typically are put on University probation, are required to undergo a substance abuse assessment and potential counseling, and are fined $250 by the University.

"That triple-whammy component is unique to BU," says DeLuca. "We don't have many repeat offenders."

Students who violate the alcohol policy repeatedly, and those who are caught with a large quantity of alcohol, such as a keg, a case of beer, or several bottles of hard liquor, even on a first offense, are likely to lose University housing, according to Jack Weldon, director of BU's Office of Residence Life.

Students who are 21 are allowed to have alcohol in University residences, but only 72 ounces of beer (for example, a six-pack) and one liter of another alcoholic beverage. Larger quantities may never be brought into University residences, and guests of residents, regardless of age, may not bring alcohol into University residences. In addition, students cannot consume alcohol in public areas, such as hallways, lobbies, and common areas.

To help enforce BU's alcohol policy, BU and Boston plainclothes police officers monitor area liquor stores for underage buyers every weekend. "The officers' sole task is to look for people who appear underage and are buying liquor or transporting it on the street," says BU Police Department Captain Anthony Diorio. "They may confront suspicious people in a liquor store after they buy, or outside on the sidewalk."

In that way, Boston and BU police combine to make hundreds of arrests for possession of illegal driver's licenses every year. Diorio says the felony crime typically brings a fine of about $200, 40 to 50 hours of community service, and probation. If the person is not convicted of any other crimes while on probation, the fake ID charge is expunged from his or her record.

"The caveat there is that when filling out an application for any federal agency, whether it be for student aid or a government job," he says, "the student still has to admit that he or she was arrested, because it will show up in a national database."

In addition, students convicted of possessing a fake driver's license can expect to receive a one-year probation and a $250 fine from the University, and suspension of their valid real driver's license.

30 March 2001
Boston University
Office of University Relations