The story of Yale's ominous shift over the last year in its approach to student underage drinking has not been told in anywhere near to its entirety. Yes, we know that Yale felt the need to suddenly change its tailgate policy for the Harvard-Yale game. And yes, we know that Sig Ep was suddenly penalized after a Yale College dean came to the earth-shattering two-step epiphany that a) beer pong is played in fraternities, and b) it involves the drinking of beer. But what has perhaps not been widely known is the degree to which the administration has seemed intent on chipping away at the alcohol status quo behind closed doors.
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In at least a few other recent instances, Yale's feared judiciary body -- the Executive Committee -- has gotten wind of various fraternity-sponsored events at which alcohol has been served, and either threatened to punish or actually has punished the president or other officers associated with that frat.
Students involved with these disciplinary proceedings suggest that they are unfair for a whole host of reasons. For one thing, frat members have been charged, not necessarily for the specific role they played in organizing an undergraduate drinking event, but rather for their leadership role overall in the offending fraternity. Furthermore, some of these fraternity members are being charged under an especially vague provision in the Undergraduate Regulations which states that punishments may be handed down for "actions on the part of students that may in the judgment of the committee warrant disciplinary action because they may imperil the integrity and values of the Yale community or the well-being of its members." This vague, elastic provision seems possible to stretch or contract to cover any action by any student that the ExComm members find unsavory. It is, to be blunt, the Yale equivalent of an indictment for being "un-American."
The logical next step, of course, is to whisk away these "alco-terrorists" to Guantanamo or Rumania for "special interrogation" without access to counsel.
yaledailynews.com - ExComm ought to leave well enough alone with alcohol policy
Tag: SigEp, fraternity, Alcohol, Yale
