Students protested a proposed alcohol-consumption policy at a meeting Monday evening at Memorial Union, complete with pitchers of beer.
The current draft of the policy would restrict ""student groups"" from providing alcohol at certain group-related events.
Wisconsin Union President and UW-Madison senior Shayna Hetzel objected to overly vague terminology in the current draft, including references to ""student groups"" and ""events"" without clear definitions about what each term constitutes.
In its current incarnation, Hetzel said students at the meeting essentially violated the proposed policy by virtue of being students in a group consuming alcohol.
""There are things in [the proposal] that are downright insane,"" said Ald. Austin King, District 8, pointing to restrictions on funding student group events where alcohol is served, even if it is only served to students of legal age or older.
""The city's actually moving in the opposite direction,"" King said, like toward more mixed-age entertainment events, such as band performances at bars that underage people can attend.
Interim Associate Dean of Students Elton Crim emphasized the proposal is still in preliminary stages and will not be implemented in the near future.
""There have been incidents that probably would be problematic if someone was seriously injured or hurt as a result of this,"" Crim said, declining to cite specific instances.
""I mean, we've had students that have been hospitalized, in detoxification, from alcohol they received at student organization events. We have that behavior documented.""
A risk management conference in 2005 examined alcohol-related incidents that occurred in the UW System, according to Crim. The System brought in outside attorneys to try to proactively prevent further incidents.
Crim said the conference raised concerns about UW-Madison's liability if similar situations were to happen at this campus.
""What we have always intended to do with this policy is to have student input,"" Crim said.
Crim said he spoke with Hetzel about the proposed policy and students' reactions to it.
He suggested a committee made up of students and administrators could work together to create a policy both groups are comfortable with.
""Whenever that cooperative committee of students and administrators develops a policy that they are comfortable with, it will eventually go to the committee of student organizations for approval, and then it would go up to the dean of students and then the chair,"" Crim said.
According to Hetzel, ""They haven't given us an opportunity to weigh in"" on this issue.
""They have the resources to reach all student leaders on the campus, but chose not to,"" Hetzel said of the administrators' wording and creation of the policy.""They were not supposed to be a policy-making body, and that's what they've turned into.""
Monday's meeting was in preparation for a press conference Tuesday at 6 p.m.
