College Urges Easing House Party Rules

The college yesterday decided to recommend loosening some of the finer points of its new, stricter alcohol policy in response to recent student complaints about "deteriorating" house morale and a drain on house funds.

The student-faculty Committee on House Life will ask house masters to lift the ban on temporary liquor licenses, permitting house committees to charge admission to parties.

The committee also recommended that masters allow advertising for housewide parties and cease requiring that parties at which alcohol is served be restricted to house members.

Students have charged that the new alcohol policy, adopted in October, has dramatically increased the cost of successful house parties. House committees, students say, have been forced to seek alternative means--including creative themes and expensive bands--to lure partygoers, and have had to hire bouncers to check ID's.

Under current alcohol policy, houses are not permitted to obtain temporary liquor licenses, and are therefore legally prohibited from collecting money for alcohol or for admission to house parties. Allowing houses to charge admission will help defray extra costs arising from the new alcohol policy.

The new policy, adopted after Massachusetts raised its drinking age to 21, prohibits the college from serving alcohol to minors, requires advance college approval to serve alcohol in Harvard buildings when minors are present, and requires food and non-alcoholic beverages to be available when alcohol is served.

If the committee's recommendations are approved by masters, each house will decide on an ad hoc basis whether to take advantage of the increased options for its parties.

Sticking it to Seniors

The committee yesterday also approved a senior class proposal that the college affix stickers to the identification cards of all seniors of legal drinking-age. Senior class marshall Anne C. Bailey '86 said class officials have had trouble arranging senior week events without a standardized, university-sanctioned means of identifying those of legal drinking age.

Council Report

Yesterday's string of recommendations follows a 10-page report by the Undergraduate Council's residential committee, which analyzed some of the detrimental effects of the new alcohol policy on house life.

"There has been a tremendous increase in the financial burden borne by House Committees in their effort to continue to prevent the deterioration of House life under the new policy," the report said. "Events not serving alcohol are expensive. Some elaborate theme must be conceived and paid for, and creative, relatively expensive refreshments must be served."

"Events serving alcohol have become more expensive under the newly adopted policy as well," the report continued, citing the cost of "hiring anapproved person to check IDs," the need foradditional entertainment for those at the partywho were not of drinking age, and the simpleadditional cost of the alcohol.

In response to these problems, the residentialcommittee originally proposed that the collegeestablish a social fund to which house committeesand the Freshman Council could apply to helpdefray the cost of large-scale social events.

But Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 saidyesterday that because 1986 is "a tight budgetyear" and because there is a great deal ofcompetition for college funds, the proposal wouldprobably not meet with faculty and administrativeapproval.

The committee decided instead to recommendlifting the ban on liquor licenses so thatadmission and alcohol charges can be applied tohelp finance the parties.

Committee members stressed that their proposaldoes not attempt to dictate house party policy,but rather to increase the options available toeach house.

Stickers

The drinking-age stickers, which will probablybe distributed to seniors when they pick up theirgraduation tickets, will be given only to membersof the senior class, and will be used solely forsenior class events.

"This is a request made by the senior classcommittee for senior week events," said HarvardFirst Marshall Joel A. Getz '86. "It's notintended for anything more than that."

"I'm happy it passed," Getz said. "It'll makeit a lot easier and a lot simpler to have the bestpossible activities for the senior class duringsenior week.