UPDATED: April 11, 2019 at 6:25 p.m.

Syracuse University’s Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council are highlighting a Greek life alcohol policy this semester to prevent hospitalizations and sexual misconduct.

Previously, students in sororities thought they could only drink alcohol provided to them at fraternity parties. But sorority members who are of legal drinking age are allowed to bring their own alcohol to registered social events, said Emily Barkann, president of the Panhellenic Council.

Barkann said she hopes reemphasizing that current alcohol policy will decrease the number of Greek life members being transported to the hospital due to alcohol poisoning.

Sarah Mullarkey, vice president of judicial and standards for the Panhellenic Council, said the current policy is also a way to prevent sexual assault and harassment in Greek life.

“I get phone calls or texts every single night that there are events,” Mullarkey said. “It can happen at a bar or a party. We just have to make sure we put a stop to it and we’re being proactive.”

Interfraternity Council President Joe Coopersmith said he hopes the current policy will work toward ending pregaming, or binge drinking prior to a social event. Pregaming creates dangerous situations for everyone at social events and increases risk of medical transport, he said.

Common sources of alcohol, including kegs, jungle juice and party balls, are prohibited, according SU’s guidelines. Drinking games are also prohibited.

“There’s danger for members, at least for sorority members, to take a cup of jungle juice and not know how much (alcohol) is in the jungle juice, because it’s just a mixture of a bunch of stuff,” Barkann said. “You don’t know how much you’re really drinking, which is problematic in itself, with the additional worry that there’s some kind of drug in it.”

Alexa Lorraine, a senior in the Delta Gamma sorority, said the alcohol policy gives her “peace of mind” when going to parties. She and her friends feel much better having a sense of control over what they are drinking, she said.

“If we’re going to go into a party and choose to drink alcohol it’s nice to know where it’s coming from, know who’s been handing it and know what you’re drinking,” Lorraine said.

Greek chapters at SU are not allowed to provide alcohol during events, but students of age can bring their own drinks, according to SU’s social event guidelines for Greek life. People in the Greek community, though, are under the impression that alcohol must be provided by the fraternities, Coopersmith said.

The culture behind alcohol has been ingrained for so long in Greek life that the current policy has not been enforced, he said.

“These are cultural changes and misunderstandings that have accumulated for years,” Coopersmith said. “It needs to be planned, and there needs to be steps to move forward.”

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Though there was no recent change to the policy, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs has worked to reemphasize existing rules this year, SU Director of Communications and Media Relations Shannon Feeney Andre said.

“The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs wanted to ensure chapters were reminded of these guidelines as they are required to adhere to them,” FASA said in an emailed statement to The Daily Orange.

SU’s policies do not allow attendees of registered parties to bring more than six alcoholic beverages, and none of those beverages can exceed a 7% alcohol content. All Greek life members who are over 21 years old are given wristbands to show that they allowed to drink at parties. Members are not allowed to share drinks and can only drink what they brought with them, per SU policies.

The North-American Interfraternity Conference requires all alcohol to be less than or equal to 15% alcohol by volume. Four Loko is the only alcoholic beverage under 15% ABV that is prohibited.

The rule only applies to events registered as alcoholic. No chapter is allowed to purchase alcohol using chapter funds, according to the guidelines.

The Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council will also evaluate the security services they use for parties, Barkann said. For registered social events, fraternities and sororities use Chestnut Street Security Inc., a service operated out of East Syracuse, she said.

Barkann said the way Greek organizations deal with security is beginning to be reevaluated as well because it also ties into alcohol policy.

At an event, a security team will make sure all drinks that people bring fit SU’s guidelines and check for prohibited sources of alcohol, said Meredith Conway, president of sorority Delta Phi Epsilon. The security team can shut down a party if any of these guidelines are broken, she said.

If someone is caught violating the alcohol policy, they will be brought to the attention of the Panhellenic Council to discuss possible sanctions, Barkann said. The council has been more understanding when people are caught violating policies because many members don’t know the policy, she said.

“It takes a couple times to hear the rule before it really clicks,” Barkann said. “We definitely are going to be a little more lenient if security brought something to our attention that they thought should go to judicial hearing because (the rule) is new.”

Conway said she learned about the rule during training at the beginning of the semester, and that she was unaware of the current policy prior to becoming president of Delta Phi Epsilon.

“It’s definitely going to be slower to implement, and that’s not to say people don’t want to bring their own stuff or don’t like the policy, but more of understanding what they can and can’t bring,” Conway said.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Four Loko’s ingredients were misstated. The alcoholic beverage does not contain any caffeine. The Daily Orange regrets this error. 

Published on April 10, 2019 at 11:42 pm

Contact Natalie: nrrubiol@syr.edu