The Grinnell
Scarlet & Black

12/2/77
Grinnell College

Grinnell, Iowa
Vol 86, No. 12

 

Gets 52 per cent

 

Alcohol policy passes; goes toTurner for OK

By Bob Mitchell

The alcohol policy statement
passed by Joint Boards eleven
days ago was approved in a
referendum held last Wednesday,

The statement now goes to
President A, Richard Turner for
approval. In addition, the Com-
mittee on Student Life, which has
the power to send its own alcohol

In Focus

Drinking styles differ, says

policy statement to ,Turner, con-
sidered the proposal last night in
order to determine if it would adopt
it.

THE STATEMENT was passed
Wednesday, 282 (52 per cent) to 250
(46 per cent). Nine votes, or 2 per
cent, were declared invalid.

The adopted statement, drafted

by SGA President Jon Neiderbach
and SGA VicePresident Linda
Cornelius, contains three
provisions:

iThere shall be no open hard
liquor bars at all-campus events,

~Hard liquor drinks at all-
campus events shall be distributed
only in exchange for drink tickets.

Iowa alcohol counselor Strange

By Dan Flynn

The topic oi alcohol use and
abuse is becoming a irequent
subject in conversations on
campus Controversy over the
hard liquor policy at the recent
James Gang Bang helped lead to
an all-campus referendum to
decide a policy on funding such
events To help educate students on
alcohol and its effects, the Office of
Student Affairs put together a
three~day program called “Views
on Booze." Carney Strange, ot the
Druge Counseling Program at the
University oi Iowa, spoke Wedr
nesday night on patterns in alcohol
use.

Strange feels that alcohol use
should not be considered a
“single, simple phenomenon.”
Within our culture of alcohol users,
he states, there exist three
separate subcultures: white collar
drinkers. blue collar drinkers, and
college student drinkers, The
three groups differ markedly in
type of beverage consumed,
typical drinking setting, rituals
involved in drinking, values
associated with drinking, and
attitudes concerning women and
drinking.

ACCORDING to Strange, white
collar people tend to pride them-
selves on the quality of the liquor
they consume. Fine wines, mixed
drinks, and expensive scotch are
common examples of white collar
liquor. Drinking occurs in the
home, at a cocktail lounge, or at
“the Club.” Toasting. tasting, and
celebrating are upper-class
drinking rituals. White collar
drinkers consider themselves self-
reliant, and value moderation in
drinking. Women who drink to
excess are put down; white collar
women serve as hostesses “who
worry about spotted glasses,"
according to Strange.

Archie Bunker illustrates the
model blue collar drinker, Strange
said. Beer and cheap whiskey are
his favorites. He drinks in his ﬁght
knit, neighborhood bar, or in front
of the TV set at home. His rituals
include buying rounds for the
whole bar, and “tworfisted
drinking" (chasing a shot of
whiskey with a beer) He prides
himself on being able to hold his
liquor, and has what Strange calls
the “John Wayne Syndrome,” in
which one has a few drinks before
taking on the world. Women in bars
are taboo; they are found in bars
in only two cases: to bring
home a drunken husband, or ii a
woman has a drinking problem

Alcohol counselor Carney Strange discusses alcohol usage with n
student Wednesday night. Strange and Jiiii Krafft were on campus
this past week to speak at the “Views on home" couierencc sponsored

by the Student Affairs office iphoto by Chris Lower).

COLLEGE STUDENT bodies,
Strange said, are generally mix-
tures of the two previous groups.
Still, student drinkers have a set of
properties all to themselves. Like
blue collar drinkers, studenm go
for beer, yet cheap wine and some
hard booze is also common.
Drinking occurs in dorm rooms,
campus parties, and bars. Students
often go drinking with the intention
of getting drunk, and chugging
beer is a common ritual. The
student drinker sees himself in a
transitional period; he is still
unsure about aspects of drinking.
Although this group is the most
open to women drinkers, women
getting intoxicated is still irowned
upon, the speaker noted.

Students are irequently the
targets of advertising drives by
breweries, Strange commented.
One reason [or this, according to
Strange, is that this subculture
contains the “highest incidence of,
alcohol use of any oi the groups.”

He cited a survey conducted at the
University of lowa that showed
over so per cent oi the student body

were alcohol users. Miller Brewing

had an ad campaign in the
University’s daily paper ieaturing
ads costing over $300. The ads told
students that registration,
weekends, tough spots. classes,
semester exams, and lunch times,
were all Miller times.

ALTHOUGH serious alcohol
abuse exists in all groups, Strange
feels that “alcoholism is not much
of a threat while students are
students,” The general lack of
responsibilities at college is one of
the reasons for this. How a
graduate adapts -his drinking
habits to the outside world will
often determine the effect of
alcohol on his life, Strange noted.

“When the use of alcohol in-
terieres with any aspect of life
repeatedly, when there is a loss of
control, and when a lack of alcohol
(Continued on p. 2)

Each student oi legal drinking age
will be entitled to pick up two free

i drink tickets. Additional tickets
will be purchasable in advance of
the day of the event at a cost set
such that the receipts from ticket
sales will cover as much as
possible the cost of the liquor tor
the additional drinks. .

—All-campus events shall be
defined as all events open to all
students and that take place in
Darby Gym or a place oi similar
capacity according to fire safety
standards,

THE ADOPTED SGA proposal
differs from the original alcohol
statement drawn up by the
Committee on Student Life in that
it allows students to obtain free
drink tickets, The CSL proposal
only prohibited the use oi student
activity iees tor the purchase of

hard liquor at allecampus events,
without saying anything about
distribution guidelines.

Neiderbach commented that the
alcohol policy statement that
passed Wednesday was a come
promise effort that should make
the Joint Boards members haoov

“I‘M VERY happy that it
passed. I think that it’s in the
nature of compromise that nobody
got exactly what they wanted but
we all got something we can live
\V|th. I understand that many
people had many different reasons
tor voting the way they voted 1
hope that this is not the end of
alcohol matters at Grinnell. 1 hope
that we can continue to discuus
alcohol on campus, hopefully to get
at the root of the problem." he
said.

Utilities, inflation
force tuition hike

By Julie Brand

“This year’s deficit is not a

Next year’s tuition will be ssoo i direct reason tior thelncrease) but
higher than this year's due to the t obviously it's a symptom or the

high inilation rate and especially to
the rising cost oi utilities, Dean
Waldo Walker said.

Walker also cited the failure of
previous years’ increases to cover
expenses as another reason tor the
increase, which will jump from
$5,170 to 35.670.

The comprehensive fee increase
will be composed of $420 more for
tuition, $65 more for board and $15
more for room, The Board of
Trustees Set the raise at its tail
meeting on November 6. Letters
were sent to parents iniorming
them of the new charge on
November 17.

The increase reﬂects the Board
policy that the comprehensive iee
should provide about two-thirds of
the annual operating expense of
the college The remainder
primarily comes from philan-
thropic giits and endowment
return.

Walker said inflation was the

problem, Everything is going up,
particularly utilities.”

The utilities budget ior this year
was $392,000 and next year the
college is allowing for a 21 per cent
increase, making it $424,000 for
utilities alone in 1978-79.

Walker also said that Grinnell’s
tuition has “not gone up as much as
the competiti ” Grinnell
currently has the sixth highest
tuition costs in the Associated,
Colleges of the Midwest. Three
years ago, it was highest,

Walker said the college tried to
keep the raise as low as possible to
avoid appearing overpriced in
comparison to neighboring
colleges. Yet in order to do this, he
said, estimations of other Colleges’
tuitions have to be made in OC»
tuber, which is relatively early,
because this is when Grinnell does
its budget. Often, the other schools
have underestimated, leaving
Grinnell's tuition lower than

The increase is larger than uSual

because “we have not been

meeting our expenditure needs,”

according to Walker.

major reason tor the unusually
high hike. “In the past four or iive
years we have not been raising our
fee as much as inﬂation has hit.”
In the last three years, the in-
creases have averaged $300.
Walker referred to the coming
year as a “catch-up year."

“This (increase) is a larger one
than usual, but the reason for that
is we have not been meeting the
expenditure needs, Walker said.

needed to maintain a good com-
parison, the Dean said. '

Students on financial aid need
not worry, emphasized Walker.
The financial aid budget will be
raised next year. “We always
boost the iinancial aid accordingly.
It’s all based on a student’s need
for that year,” Walker com-
mented. This year, 47 per cent or
Grimnell's students are on financial
at ,

 

