In April, Wallace Loh crossed off one of his most controversial initiatives: A 21-only ordinance passed in Iowa City, barring underage patrons from bars in an effort to cut down on binge drinking.
But Loh won’t get to see the fruits of more than two years of hard work and lobbying — less than three months after the ordinance was enacted June 1, he was offered the position to replace 12-year university President Dan Mote.
Loh’s appointment has generated mostly positive reactions from the campus community for both his diverse background in academia and public policy. But the incoming administrator will take over at a contentious time at this university for alcohol-related policy, prompting many to wonder if Loh will make combating overconsumption on this campus a priority as well.
Director of the Office of Student Conduct John Zacker, whose office disciplines underage drinkers on the campus, said this university’s drinking problems are similar to the University of Iowa’s.
“We continue to debate how best to address [underage drinking],” he said. “That’s not different than the campus that Dr. Loh is coming from, the University of Iowa. We all are looking for approaches to address not only the effects of the abuse of alcohol but the use of alcohol by minors as well. That continues to be a source of frustration and challenge for us.”
Zacker said he would support a similar crackdown to what Loh instituted at Iowa because the main source of underage drinking at this university occurs on Route 1.
“If local bars are allowing underage persons to enter their establishments, then state law is not being enforced,” he said, adding there’s a side-effect to drinking in the city of College Park and on the campus. “There are underage students going to those establishments, drinking to excess, ending up on the campus in an intoxicated state and having to be transported to the hospital. If we shut down the source, it would limit opportunity for them to obtain the alcohol.”
Based on early reports, the 21-only ordinance, which has prompted a strong backlash from student groups at Iowa who used to be allowed in bars if they were over 18, has worked: The Daily Iowan, the university’s student newspaper, reported that ambulance calls for alcohol transports were down on weekend nights compared to last year and the downtown scene has quieted substantially.
For Loh, transforming the downtown scene of Iowa City was about keeping students safe.
“It changes the culture and climate of the place,” Loh told The Daily Iowan earlier this year. “It sends a message that we really care. This is not about prohibition, this is about safety.”
At this university, students and administrators have attempted to address the issue of student safety in other ways.
For more than three years, students have been pushing administrators to implement of a “Good Samaritan” policy that would shield students who call 911 for themselves or a dangerously intoxicated friend from university sanctions. Although a Responsible Action Protocol was put in place in April 2009, students are handled on a case-by-case basis and can still face consequences for underage drinking.
University Provost and acting President Nariman Farvardin said that while he personally is in favor of establishing a “Good Samaritan” policy, he questions whether or not it’s the administration’s job to curb underage drinking since it’s a federal law.
“The administration is concerned about the health of students and the well-being of students and those who surround them,” he said. “But to get proactively engaged, I’d have to think about it. The last time I checked, underage drinking is still against the law.”
In 2008, Mote and University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan took a controversial step in addressing underage drinking by signing the Amethyst Initiative — a petition urging university administrators to discuss on-campus binge drinking and the effectiveness of the legal drinking age. The university then hosted an Alcohol Summit in an attempt to do away with the taboo of talking about alcohol-related issues. Talking it out, administrators said, could only help.
For years, the university has also worked to educate students on the dangers of binge drinking through outreach programs like AlcoholEDU, which all incoming students must complete.
But a severe crackdown on practices students hold dear can lead to significant backlash — a lesson Loh learned in Iowa, and one that resurfaced when the new president criticized Terps fans’ conduct at football games this semester.
Undergraduate Senator Lisa Crisalli — who serves on the University Senate’s most powerful committee, the Senate Executive Committee — said students shouldn’t see Loh’s work to combat binge drinking as a threat, but rather as a sign he cares about students’ well-being.
“We don’t anticipate this being a conflict whatsoever,” Crisalli said. “The students want the same thing as Loh: healthy and safe students. We have the same motivations and we desire the same outcome. Hopefully we will be able to work together towards both of those goals.”
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