Safety Recommendations - 10/25/09

1. Help students learn more about alcohol – on their terms. Encourage participation in alcohol education and awareness programs such as B.E.A.R.S. where students are actively involved in educating and mentoring each other. Consider making participating mandatory for new members, perhaps within first year of membership of a Greek organization. (Rationale: Unlike other programs where students attend lectures or attend virtual classes, B.E.A.R.S. offers a varied curriculum and encourages attendee participation. Students are helping present the program which in turn seems to make a strong impression on the students attending the course.)

2. Expand educational programs for new members that address common issues that will make members more successful, such as the New Member Camp. These programs should be designed by student leaders that will educate the newest members of the Fraternity & Sorority community on issues that tend to cause problems for freshmen in general and Greeks in particular. These could include issues such as alcohol abuse, hazing, sexual assault, diversity, etc. Ideally these programs would be presented by older fraternity and sorority members with the goal of reducing problems that prevent these younger members from being successful students at Berkeley and good fraternity and sorority members.

3. Revise GAMMA to more adequately address alcohol use and abuse in the Greek Community. This is a group that is national in nature and has support among alcohol professionals on the campus and across the country, and with proper student input, can be a group that can help address alcohol use and abuse.

4. Help students learn more about responsible party planning. CalGreeks and UCPD/BPD to provide uniform party planning and training materials to men’s and women’s groups. (Rationale: Currently, men’s housed groups receive one type of training as where women learn different event planning guidelines. While the City of Berkeley regulations will not always apply to every group’s event, there is value in every group on campus who may participate in large events -- particularly those where alcohol is served and underage drinking may take place – to understand the regulations and expectations.). Be good hosts by having plenty of non-salty food and other items that take the focus off of alcohol exclusively. For those events in houses where non-members and alcohol are present, should have security.

5. Be better neighbors. Encourage housed chapters to host informal events once per semester (perhaps groups of houses or block-by-block) to foster better relations with non-Greek neighbors and neighborhood associations. (Rationale: The live-in members within some Greek houses change every semester and it can be hard to ‘know’ one’s neighbors at any given time. Developing a sense of community around the Southside may foster improved neighbor relations, encourage neighbors to look out for one another, and promote faster responses in times of crisis. A neighborhood clean-up day or ice cream social, with local law enforcement invited, would be a low-stress event to lower the barriers or make these things less awkward.)

6. Provide more outlets for non-alcohol programming. Opportunities should be sought to provide alternative, creative ideas for chapters and the Fraternity & Sorority community to provide more alcohol-free programs. Collaborating with the programming office on campus and intramurals, as two examples, of programs that could provide great outlets for students.

7. Be prepared in case of emergency. Recommend that all housed chapters (and as much as possible, un-housed groups) participate in disaster drills. CalGreeks is already active in earthquake and disaster planning, yet students do not practice, nor do they consider planning, for an emergency. Point person for each house may be person in charge of house management, disaster planning or communications. Additional resources to be determined. 8. Have Houses be the safest residences for students. Provide annual training to House Corporations on disaster preparedness through the City of Berkeley. Post annual house inspections (fire, sanitation, etc.) on the http://greeks.berkeley.edu web site.

9. Recruit students using the highest of standards and without alcohol. All aspects of Recruitment need to be alcohol-free. IFC (especially) needs to develop a mechanism that makes this a reality; otherwise we make it appear as if joining our community is just about partying and not about values.

10. Use existing data on alcohol and substance abuse to gauge the effectiveness of programming. Annually the University collects a host of data on Berkeley students as part of existing surveys to gauge abuse levels and to compare them to peer schools across the country. Using this existing data for Greeks can gauge whether programming, policies, alternatives, etc. are making an impact in this area.