BERKELEY: University may curb fraternity drinking / Alcohol-fueled problems blamed for proposed ban

Alcohol may be temporarily banned again for UC Berkeley fraternities and sororities because of recent drinking-related problems, campus officials said Friday.

Dean of Students Karen Kenney said that she was sending a proposed moratorium on alcohol at Greek-sponsored social events to the chancellor's office and that a decision could come as early as Monday.

The proposal comes in response to several alcohol-related incidents and issues involving hazing, fights and parties, Kenney said, declining to name specific cases.

The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity was placed on suspension last month following an April 8 hazing incident in which a pledge was shot with a pellet gun more than 30 times.

The campus has also been investigating a party sponsored by the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity on a Blue and Gold ferry that ended early May 1 with an emergency stop in Oakland after fights on board. Police made four arrests -- three for public intoxication and one for resisting arrest -- and removed about half of the 642 passengers.

A sorority is also under a campus investigation for allegedly hazing pledges with excessive exercise and sleep deprivation, said Kenney, who declined to name the sorority.

The campus imposed a 5-month moratorium on alcohol at Greek parties in April 2002 following violations of the ban on hard liquor, underage drinking, injuries caused by fights, accidents and overcrowding in violation of fire codes.

"We're disappointed and frustrated," said Sam Endicott, president of the Inter-Fraternity Council and a member of Pi Kappa Phi. "We feel a moratorium isn't necessary."

Endicott acknowledged that some parties earlier this semester had been held on Greek Row in violation of the campus' strict regulations on the use of alcohol, but he said an enforcement program by council officers during the past three weeks had eliminated the problem.

As for hazing, he said, the council is "more than willing to work with the university to come up with comprehensive hazing-prevention programs over the summer."

The fraternity council also sent a letter Thursday to Vice Chancellor Genaro Padilla saying, "We feel a moratorium will retard all the positive steps we have taken thus far and will fail to remedy the problems affecting the community."

Kenney called the council's initiative "a development that we're very appreciative of" but added that more needed to be done. She said the campus was also "in the process of forming a working group" of administration and Greek representatives to address the problems.

She said details of the proposed moratorium would be disclosed once a decision on approving it had been made. Chancellor Robert Birgeneau's office said he was out of town Friday.

Asked whether the ban would apply to off-campus Greek-sponsored events such as a ferry party, Kenney said it would apply to "any social activity."

Existing rules, tightened after the 2002 ban, do not apply to parties that are off campus and not at the fraternity or sorority house.

The 2002 ban was lifted after fraternities and sororities agreed to strict guidelines requiring formal registration of the events and forbidding bulk supplies of alcohol such as kegs.

Each party-goer must be at least 21 years old and bring his or her own alcohol, not to exceed the equivalent of six beers, and immediately surrender it to a licensed third-party bartender who dispenses one drink at a time.

BERKELEY / University may curb fraternity drinking / Alcohol-fueled problems blamed for proposed ban